The Mind's Eye
by CrimsonBirdhouse
Summary: (Non-AU, InuKag) An accident renders Kagome blind, but Kaede believes that she can teach her to "see" again. Soon enough, Kagome ventures into a world that few know exist and fewer still can enter...
1. Default Chapter

AN: I am a bad, bad person. I promised myself that I'd do things one at a time. I said that I'd finish Haunted before I started anything new. I am a liar. I lied. (What happened to my sense of morality?) I'm a truly terrible person. Again, I apologize more my deceitful and underhanded ways.

Anyway…

This is one of those weird stories that you can't get out of your head, and when you put it to paper it looks wrong… But it did turn out better than the other ones that I started, and then deleted, so this is the one I'm postin' and continuing.

Now, I know that this sounds incredibly depressing and such, but hope is not lost! Or at least, if it is, it'll be back. (I don't like tragedies, thus, this won't be one.) Everything will turn out all right in the end. I think. (Actually, I haven't decided yet.)

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Inuyasha. No way, no how, no when. (That's grammatically incorrect in so many ways…)

X

The Mind's Eye

X

Chapter One: Sight

X

Typical of Kagome. Inuyasha huffed to himself as he glared at the well. "She's late. Again." The wind blew gently and the trees rustled quietly in reply. White ears twitched on a snowy-haired head as a twig snapped in the forest. The hanyou turned as Miroku sauntered into the clearing, a red mark on his face a testimony to his activities.

"Sango?" The demi-demon inquired, already knowing the answer. Miroku sighed and nodded as the handprint began to fade. "Why don't you just give up?" Inuyasha glanced back at the well as the sun sank slowly over the horizon.

"Perseverance is a virtue that should be valued," Miroku replied solemnly as he reclined against the trunk of a nearby tree. There was a moment's silence between them. The monk sighed and looked at the half-demon with lazy purple eyes. "Are you just going to sit out here all night and wait?" He goaded Inuyasha.

Falling eagerly for the bait, he stood up and stomped over to the well. "Hah. We don't have that much time to waste. I'm gonna go get her." In a flash, he was gone. The black-haired man smiled to himself as he closed his eyes and plucked at a blade of grass.

"Hey, Kagome!" On the other side of the well, Inuyasha slid the black-haired girl's bedroom window open with a squeak. "You're late!" Amber eyes roved the room as irritation melted away into bemusement. Where was she? He glanced at the large yellow back that she always took with her and frowned. It was unpacked. Completely. By now, she should at least be preparing! Indignation flared up in him again.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome's voice came from downstairs. "Are you there?" He growled and stepped through the window. In a moment he was across the room and at the staircase as he left a trail of muddy footprints in his wake.

"Yeah, it's me. Or did you forget?" He made his way down the stairs and stopped at the bottom to stare fixedly at the black-haired girl. "You aren't even packed yet!" He pointed up at the doorway to her room. Strangely, Kagome's eyes didn't follow his hand. He frowned. "And what do you have on your head?"

Her strange, fixed smile slipped and wavered as her mouth turned down at the corners. Forcefully, Kagome made herself smile as she turned her head towards where Inuyasha's voice was coming from. "Oh, these?" She pointed at the sunglasses she was wearing. Inuyasha didn't respond. Maybe he'd nodded instead. "These are sunglasses," she continued, blatantly avoiding his question.

"Why are you wearing them?" Inuyasha's voice held exasperation in it. And this time, it came from another side of the room. Kagome turned her head towards where she thought he was.

"Well, I…" She paused and forced another smile. "I…" She couldn't tell him. She couldn't do it. Kagome could barely handle it herself. She needed more time, not only a day. And when the rest of her family was gone, too. Typical Inuyasha timing.

"What?" His voice came softly from directly behind her. Kagome flinched and stumbled forward, out of the chair she was sitting in. Familiar hands caught her as she fell, but she was unprepared and surprised as they did so. She flinched again. "What the hell's wrong with you?" There was a note of urgency in his voice- and probably his expression- as he helped her back into the chair. "And what are these supposed to do?" She felt him lift the sunglasses away from her face and she shut her eyes tightly.

There was a moment's pause in which she could hear Inuyasha's claws click softly against the sunglasses. "…What are you hiding, Kagome?" His voice came from in front of her. She opened her mouth to reply, but Inuyasha cut her off. "Open your eyes," he said harshly, his voice coming from the side this time. She flinched and turned blindly towards where she thought he was.

Slowly, she allowed her eyes to open and stared ahead. There was a pause. Kagome could feel the tears spill over her sightless eyes and down her face. Turning her head away –at least she thought she was turning away- she closed her eyes and cried. Sobbed.

A hand rested on her shoulder gently. "Kagome…" Inuyasha's voice was soft. "…How-? When-?" A warm arm went around her shoulders as Inuyasha tried futilely to comfort her.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

He knew that something was wrong the moment he saw her sitting alone in the chair, in the middle of the living room.

Maybe it was that fake smile that she'd fixed on her face. Perhaps it was the sunglasses. It could've been the fact that she was completely unready to return with him. But what made him certain was the way that she was slumped over, and the exhaustion in her voice that she'd tried to hide.

At first, he didn't understand. Why was she just sitting there, unmoving? And when he pointed to the door, she just sat there. She didn't even turn to look at what he was pointing to. When he moved about the room, she didn't follow his movement. Alarm bells went off in his head. When he spoke, she whirled around and looked to where he was, but not before then. With a feeling of dread, Inuyasha decided to test his theory.

She didn't even notice when he walked causally behind her. When he spoke, she jumped as if someone had poked her with a pin. And she couldn't find the chair afterward. His mind went blank, refusing, denying the truth that screamed the obvious in his hear. So he asked, voice rough with anxiety. "Open your eyes."

And when she did, tears sliding out of the corners of sightless eyes, he felt reality shatter around him, leaving in its place a great disbelief, incredulity. Shock, even though he knew before hand. Kagome's eyes had lost their brilliance, their emotion. They were dull, muddy brown, the irises clouded.

And she was sobbing. Whenever Kagome had cried before, it was simply tears, sniffing. And she was hunched up in this chair now, face averted, shuddering as sobs wracked her body. And all he could do was say her name.

(•.•)

( • )--

"Inuyasha's not back yet…" Shippo peered down into the dark depths of the well with curiosity. It was night, the sky a velvety blanket and the stars bright, like the mysterious flashlight object that Kagome brought from her time. With a sigh, the little kitsune scrambled off the edge of the well and trudged back to Kaede's hut, the long grass swishing about his ankles as he went.

The ginger-haired fix-demon looked at the ground dejectedly as he grumbled to himself. "…if they ever get back. How long does it take to fetch one human girl? Well, Kagome can 'sit' him, so maybe a bit longer than most-" He stopped abruptly and stared. A long shadow blocked the light ahead. With a feeling of dread, Shippo looked up at the towering giant that barred the path. "WAAAAH!" Foxfire flickered into life on the tips of his fingers and he hurled it at the shape. "Take that, demon!"

Miroku stumbled back, blinking as he placed his arm over his eyes. "Shippo! Stop!" The little lights dimmed and died on his hands. The kitsune looked at the monk crossly.

"Gods, Miroku! Don't sneak up on my like that!" Green eyes glared into purple as small arms crossed over his chest, bushy tail flicking in agitation. Miroku looked at him pointedly.

"I didn't sneak up on you. You just weren't paying attention." Shippo grumbled something in return and hopped onto the monk's purple-clad shoulder. "Is Inuyasha still fetching Kagome?" The kitsune nodded.

"But I don't get why he's taking so long," he complained to Miroku. "I mean, how long can it take to get her? It's been hours already!" Well, more like forty-five minutes. Shippo didn't bother with a correction.

"Hm." Miroku smiled knowingly, and the kitsune perched on his shoulder sighed. Miroku was a hopeless case. Twigs crunched underfoot as the two emerged from the forest and into the village. The air was crisp, on the verge of cold, and Shippo shivered slightly. Everything had settled down for the night and the only light was one from the village priestesses hut, a square patch of brightness upon the dark earth.

Pushing the reed mat aside, Miroku entered to see that the priestess was dosing as Sango polished a shining Hiraikotsu on her lap. Kirara mewed, bright pomegranate eyes staring with an intelligent gaze, and the demon exterminator looked up, smiled, then went back to her work.

The ragged cloth rubbed against the formidable weapon with a soft squeaking sound. Dipping the fabric into a tiny container that sat next to her, Sango continued her polishing until the bone boomerang gleamed in the dying firelight. "They're not back yet?" Her voice was quiet, barely reaching his ears above the muted cackling and popping noises issuing from the small fire.

"No." Miroku shook his head. He stopped to think for a moment, purple eyes staring contemplatively into the dancing flames. "I wonder if something happened…" Sango looked at him in surprise.

"I'm sure they're fine," she said, only a hind of doubt entering her voice. After all, Kagome was always saying how much safer her time was, how there were professionals who could snatch people from the brink of death and cut open your heart without killing you. In her time, people left the earth and went to the moon and demons were a thing of the past. Of course everything was fine. Right?

She and Miroku exchanged an uncertain glance. No, everything would be all right. The demon exterminator set her weapon aside and laid down on the floor, eyes fixed upon the ceiling. On the other side of the room, Shippo was murmuring softly in his sleep as the fire cackled and popped, the flames shrinking as they ran out of fuel.

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

"What happened?" Inuyasha's voice was soft as he guided her to the sofa in the living room. Kagome's tears had finally stopped flowing and her desperate sobs had subsided into little infrequent hiccups.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she began, Inuyasha listening intently, eyes burning with a forlorn intensity that Kagome would never see. There were so many things that she would never see again. The sun, the moon, her mother's face, her brother's face, her grandfather. She would never see the sunset, never see the grass, green and wet with dew. She'd never see the sky again.

Tears began to well up in her already-sore and puffy eyes again behind the sunglasses she was wearing. She'd never see Sango or Miroku again, or Shippo grow up. She'd never see Inuyasha… the tears spilled over and followed a frequently-traveled path down her face and she blinked. Pulling a worn handkerchief that her mother had given her out of the pocket of the pants she was wearing- she hadn't even bothered to change in the morning, or the day before- she wiped her face clean and tried to calm down a bit.

"Are… you alright now?" Inuyasha's voice came from next to her, gentle and quiet as a hand found her own and squeezed reassuringly. With another shuddering sigh, she nodded and cleared her throat. She could do this- she'd have to live with it for the rest of her life, wouldn't she?

Kagome bit her lip. The rest of her life… But the presence of a warm hand in hers brought her back to the present and away from a future that looked bleak. Eyes tightly shut- she might never open them again- she opened her mouth to began again.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

The city streets thronged with people, laughing, smiling, absorbed in their newspapers. Schoolgirls like herself, children, parents, old men and businesswomen. Kagome smiled as she walked. Whenever she got back from Sengoku Jidai, she loved to immerse herself in the people of Tokyo. She was one of many. There was so much less responsibility on her to succeed, to win, to stay ahead of Naraku and their other enemies. Here in Tokyo, she was just another person wrapped up in their life, not the reincarnation of a powerful priestess that was trying to keep the flow of time as it was.

She was on her way to an eye check-up. Recently, she'd noticed that she was having problems seeing things far away that Sango and Miroku could see perfectly, Inuyasha too. While it wasn't too bothersome, why live with it when she didn't have to? She stepped carefully around a small boy and continued up the street, the rumble of cars engines and people's voices acting as a pleasant background to her thoughts. "Oh, excuse me!" She apologized as she bumped into a middle-aged man. He looked at her oddly, interest flickering in his eyes as they stared into hers, and didn't reply as he stepped to the side and continued on his way. But then the Shikon Shard around her neck did attract strange looks. She tucked it back into her shirt.

Kagome hurried away and shuddered as an inexplicable chill settled over her, tucking the shard safely inside her shirt. There was an English expression –speaking of which, she was waaay behind in that class and hadn't practiced the foreign language in a good few months- that expressed it perfectly. "Someone walking over your grave"? She frowned. That sounded right.

With a weary sigh, she continued down the street. She was so behind in her subjects, not only math. And this was the time that most kids got really stressed; summer had just ended –Kagome hadn't finished much of the homework that her teachers had given, she'd been so loaded with makeup work- and it was the final semester before high school. Overall, things didn't look too good for her. She'd be lucky if she got into any high school at all! She hadn't gotten any notices yet…

She glanced up at the street signs. The eye place was somewhere around here… "Ah, there." A bold sign exclaimed in bright blue lettering, "Eye Site". A clever, though cheesy pun. A small bell tinkled quietly as she stepped into the "Site". The glass door swung closed behind her and the outside noises were cut off. The only sounds in the office were the beeping of something electronic and the voice of a receptionist. Kagome's sandals flopped quietly as she tread across the blue carpet to the reception area.

The secretary smiled quickly at her and continued to take notes as she listened to someone over the phone. "Uh huh." The pen scratched against the pad of paper that she was writing on. "Yes. Any itchiness? Pressure around the eyes?" She nodded, black bangs falling into her eyes as she jotted more down on the register. "Headaches? Well, I think that you should come in soon. Would you like to schedule an appointment? Sometime this week would be ideal…" she nodded again and the ballpoint raced across the note. "Thursday. We have an opening at… two in the afternoon. Does that work?" She paused and motioned at Kagome to sit in one of the chairs. "Okay, we'll be seeing you then. And one more thing. At night, I'd recommend putting a warm compress over your eyes. That should help temporarily. Goodbye."

She hung up the phone and closed the ledger away with a neat snap. "Your name?" She looked to Kagome and pushed her bangs out of her face as she searched through some files.

"Higurashi Kagome," Kagome said. The receptionist nodded and pulled out a file. "Here to see Doctor Nakasako?" The black-haired girl nodded and looked back into the depths of the office. "He'll be right with you. Five minutes, maybe?"

Kagome nodded and grabbed a magazine from a nearby stack and began to idly leaf through it. Pages turned, each filled with brightly colored "shocking news" about the lives of celebrities. To Kagome, it all seemed so distant. While it was interesting to read about, gossip didn't have the same captivating power as it once did over her. She suspected that it had to do with her lifestyle.

"Excuse me, Dr. Nakasako is ready to see you now." The dark-haired receptionist indicted Kagome and looked back at the files she was organizing. As Kagome passed her desk, she heard the receptionist mutter, "… files are so disorganized I'm surprised that he gets anything done. Every time I come back here, they're completely…"

Kagome smiled slightly to herself. Dr. Nakasako had been a friend of her father's, before he died. Naturally, the whole family went to him for their eyes. "Ah, Kagome! It's been ages." Nakasako Kanaye was a tall man with black hair and a habit of losing important things. However, he was a great doctor and the Higurashis wouldn't come to him if he wasn't. "The last time I saw you, you were only this tall!" He held his hand up in demonstration with a smile.

Kagome grinned cheerfully back. "It hasn't been that long, Doctor." He led her down the hallway and they entered his office. With familiarity, she settled into the big grey chair as Dr. Nakasako readied whatever tools he was going to be using.

"So, what are you here for, Kagome?" And now to business. He sat at in his own chair and watched his old friend's daughter as she prepared an answer, brown eyes thoughtful.

"I've been seeing spots in my vision lately. And I don't think I can see as far as I'm supposed to be able to." The last time she'd been to Sengoku Jidai, a demon with a Shikon Shard had taken flight. It was purely luck that she'd hit it, as she was unable to see it clearly.

"Nearsighted," the doctor murmured and jotted something down on her file with a black pen. He looked back up at his patient. "Well, we'll just do some tests. This is pretty normal," he said in a conversational tone as he turned on the projector, the standard symbols lighting up on the opposite wall. "During this age, most teens start to get deteriorating eyesight." He adjusted the projector as it hummed behind her. "Can you read that?"

The test went on as was usual. She looked at the board and discovered that her vision was indeed slightly impaired. Then came the different lenses that she looked through. That went on as was expected as well.

"Which looks better, one or two?" The lenses switched back and forth between the two. "One, or two?" Dr. Nakasako watched as Kagome frowned and squinted through the two.

"They're pretty similar, but I think that two's better," she said finally. The doctor nodded and his pen scratched across her file. He put the papers down and flicked through another series of lenses.

"Three, or four?" The characters on the other side of the lenses that she was looking at blurred slightly, the cleared. "Three, or four?" the doctor repeated.

"Definitely three," Kagome said firmly. The pen came down upon the paper again. Dr. Nakasako sighed and straightened in his seat as he pushed the file to the side.

"Okay, now I'm going to dilate your eyes." Kagome nodded. Standard routine. "And it'll sting a bit, but that's all." He grabbed a bottle and dropper after checking the label on it. "Oh, and you'll want a tissue to dry your eyes." He handed her a tissue and opened the bottle. Kagome opened her eyes wider and let him put the drops in.

And that's where everything went wrong.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

It was morning. And they still weren't back yet.

Shippo paced back and forth in agitation, his paws rustling softly in the long grass around the well. With a frustrated sigh, the kitsune stuck his head down the well and glared down into its dark depths. Maybe if he yelled loud enough, they could hear him… Shippo took a deep breath, then thought better of it. He'd also attract demons if he yelled.

The irate ginger-haired demon settled for grumbling. "Inuyasha's the one who's always telling us that we can't waste time! And it's been a whole night! How long does it take to grab Kagome and go?" He started to pace through the grass again. "Inuyasha's an idiot!" he exclaimed loudly.

Bonk! A familiar fist came crashing down on his head. "Ouch!" Shippo glared resentfully at the half-demon in question. "Well, you took long enough!" Green eyes shimmered with indignation, then confusion. "Wait, where's Kagome? And what's that?" He poked at the scroll in Inuyasha's hand, and the hanyou pulled away.

There was something wrong with Inuyasha. He didn't look too happy, Shippo noted. Usually when he and Kagome fought, he'd be mad, belligerent. But this time, he didn't look even remotely mad. Amber eyes were dull and a frown was constantly creasing his forehead. And when Inuyasha was like that, it usually meant that Kikyo had been by, or something bad had happened… "Where's Kagome!" Shippo's voice rang out louder, slightly shrill.

"At home." The hanyou stalked by him, leaving a very confused Shippo behind him. After a moment's pause, the kitusne scampered after him. Something was very, very wrong if Inuyasha was so thoroughly depressed and Kagome was at home.

"Wait, why?" Green eyes stared up at Inuyasha's brooding expression. "What happened?" The hanyou glanced down distractedly at the little fox-demon, then looked back up at the dusty blue sky. Kagome wouldn't see the sky again…

"I'll tell you later, with the others." Shippo paused as Inuyasha kept walking and frowned. The hanyou's red-clad back disappeared around a turn in the path, and Shippo's frown deepened.

"What a pompous jerk. Does he really have to give this big announcement? He could just tell me." The kitsune kicked bad-temperedly at an acorn, his anxiety hidden under his irritability. The thing bounced away and hit a tree with a dull "thunk". Inuyasha certainly could be mysterious when he wanted to be.

Pieces to a puzzle that Shippo didn't really want to fit together began to fall in place. Kagome was at home. Inuyasha was upset. Very, very upset. He'd been gone all night, and the hanyou wouldn't tell him what was wrong. Blood pounded in Shippo's ears and he stopped abruptly, green eyes wide. It was Kagome. Something was wrong with Kagome.

"INUYASHA!" The kitsune sprinted down the path at speeds previously unattainable. "WHAT HAPPENED TO KAGOME?"

(•.•)

( • )--

Instead of a bit of stinging, the dilating fluid was burning into her eyes. She winced and blinked, gasping as she dabbed frantically at her eyes. Behind her, Dr. Nakasako was frantic.

"Kagome? Kagome, are you all right? Kagome!" A hand grabbed her shoulder and a blurred face was peering anxiously into her own. "Gods damn! Sachiko, get the hospital! NOW!" The blurry face dimmed as it turned back towards her and spoke in a low, urgent tone. "Kagome, I need you to cry. Cry as hard as you can."

That's when his face disappeared completely, sank into grey with everything else. Her mind filled with a blank white terror. She couldn't see. Where was everything? It was all gone, everything, and in the distance, she could hear a familiar voice telling her to cry. She didn't need to be told. Her eyes were burning, a searing pain that pounded into the back of her head. Something had gone very, very wrong. She couldn't see, but she could feel the salt water stinging as it overflowed from her eyes.

"Good, good. Just keep crying. The ambulance should be here any moment…" Dr. Nakasako's voice drifted through her panic. To the secretary, Sashiko, he said, "I don't understand it. It's just the dilation solution."

Then everything went blank.

(\ /)

(o.o)

( )

When Kagome awoke, everything was black. At first, she thought that perhaps all the lights were off. But it was too dark for that to be the case, or was it too light? There was no color to it, really. It was as if she didn't even have eyes. However, she was quite sure that she did, as they were burning and sore. "Oh, Kagome…"

Her mother's voice came from next to her and a warm hand squeezed her own. The time spent in the past kept her from panicking, but her voice held a bit of a waver when she asked, "Mom? Where am I? Why can't I see?" Something lurked in her memory, far away but there, just out of her grasp.

There was a quiet sniff in response and Kagome knew that something was definitely wrong. "Mom? What happened?" Her voice was stronger now, calmer. She could deal with it, whatever it was. She was safe at home, in her own time. There were no demons, no murderous bandits. She was safe. She could deal with it. "Just tell me what happened." It was funny, but she sounded more like the adult and her mother the child as Mrs. Higurashi answered.

"You don't remember?" She didn't give her daughter a chance to respond as she continued. "I guess you don't. You- you were at Nakasako-kun's office, an eye checkup. They don't know what happened. The dilating solution… did something. The doctors aren't sure what yet. They need to do tests." There was a pause. "Kagome…" Her mother's voice was heavy. "Can you… see me?" There was a waver in her voice.

Kagome took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She would probably never need to open them again. "No…" Her voice was barely a whisper as salty tears stung her raw eyes and dropped onto the soft hospital pillow.

Next to her, Mrs. Higurashi squeezed her hand tightly and cried softly. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. Kagome nodded wordlessly in response. She didn't trust her voice quite yet, and her throat was tight with misery. She was blind, like the people that she sometimes saw on the streets with their red and white sticks and guide dogs. She was one of them, now.

"I want to go home," she whispered softly, and another tear fell and dropped with a soft plop onto the crisp white pillow.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Inuyasha sat in silence for a moment, unable to look at Kagome. Not that she'd notice in the first place, now that she was blind. "So, they don't know what happened, do they?"

Kagome shook her head. "And I'm not completely blind. After the first day, I could see things, almost. Grey shapes, but they're almost indistinguishable. But who knows? Maybe it'll get better." Her voice held an aching, desperate hope.

"I hope so," Inuyasha replied sincerely, heavily. It was dark. "Where is your family?" He'd noticed that the house was unusually quiet, which was odd because of Kagome's… condition. He swallowed hard.

"They said shopping," Kagome replied heavily. "But I think that they're praying for me." Kagome's smile was forced. "They should be back soon." Inuyasha nodded, then realized that Kagome couldn't see him.

"Yeah." A long silence stretched between them broken only by the quiet ticking of a clock somewhere in the depths of the shrine. Inuyasha cleared his throat. "…Look, Kagome. I think that maybe…" This was going to kill him. "... you should stay here. It's safer, and you won't be in as much danger than if you're with us."

Kagome shook her head fervently. "No, I want to be there! Just give me some time." She paused and sighed heavily. "But if I'm a burden, then I understand. I can stay here. I'm not much use as a shard detector, am I?"

"No! That's not it," he said back forcefully. The last thing she needed at the moment was to feel useless. Besides, she was Kagome. She'd find something to do to help. "You just can't defend yourself any more." He paused. "I don't want you to get killed over some weak demon just because you can't see it."

Kagome nodded slowly, then yawned. To be honest, she hadn't slept really well in quite a while. She'd stayed awake almost all of last night, thinking and worrying about the day to follow, knowing that Inuyasha would come after her, thinking about all the things she would miss and memorizing faces, imprinting them in her memory. She wasn't likely to ever see anyone again, after all. Somewhere in another room, a door opened and creaked shut again. "Kagome, we're home?" Mrs. Higurashi's voice was forcefully cheerful.

"Hi, Mom!" Kagome called back. "Inuyasha's here, by the way." The hanyou fidgeted slightly. The black-haired girl turned towards him. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Fine," he replied. He should probably tell the others what was going on sometime soon. But that could wait, couldn't it? Kagome stood up and he automatically took her elbow and guided her through the room towards the kitchen.

"Oh, hello!" Mrs. Higurashi smiled at him, but it was a tired, wan smile. "I was thinking that we'd just order out. You don't mind, do you?" She was really not up to cooking at the moment…

Inuyasha shrugged and helped Kagome sit down at the table. "Fine with me." The black-haired woman nodded brusquely and picked up the phone. White ears twitched at the beeping emitted by the machine as she dialed.

"Hello?" Mrs. Higurashi leaned against the wall, a hand to her forehead as she rubbed her temples. "I'd like to order out. Yes. Um… yeah, delivery would be great, thanks. The Sunset Shrine." Inuyasha watched as Kagome's hand felt across the table as she checked to see if anything was on it. After making sure, she propped her elbows upon the wooden surface and sighed heavily. Neither of them spoke.

"Yes. Kagome, is there anything that you or Inuyasha would like?" The older woman put her hand over the phone's mouthpiece and turned towards the pair. Kagome shrugged and Inuyasha frowned.

"Do they have the… um… the shrimp with the soup?" Inuyasha hazarded. He couldn't quite remember what it was, only that it was very good. Mrs. Higurashi shook her head.

"That's a different restaurant, sorry." The hanyou shrugged. She turned back to the phone. "No, that's good. Thanks. Bye." She put the phone down with a quiet click. Mrs. Higurashi walked wearily to the foot of the stairs. "Souta! Dinner!"

"Coming!" the boy replied absently from his room. Ever since Kagome's accident, he'd buried himself in video games, fantasy worlds where he could control the outcomes of everything that happened.

"Kagome-" Mr. Higurashi stopped abruptly upon noticing Inuyasha. "Hello," he said absently, then turned back to his granddaughter. "Kagome, I found a spell!" Unlike the other two, his delighted smile was genuine.

"…great," Kagome replied wearily. "What's it do?" If he was any younger, the senior would probably be bouncing up and down excitedly. His grin widened and he clutched the scroll to him as if it was a lifeline.

"It will help you see!" He waved the scroll in the air. "I've been looking for it ever since the accident, and I finally found it!" Inuyasha looked at him with interest and glanced at the expressionless girl sitting next to him. "Kagome?" the old man queried. "You don't look too happy."

"Your spells never work," Inuyasha stated flatly. The old man bristled at the accusation. Was it just his imagination, or did the corners of Kagome's mouth turn up slightly in a small smile? His own spirits lifted slightly, and the hanyou stood up and reached for the scroll. "Let me see it."

"No!" The senior clutched the precious roll of paper to his chest defensively. "This is a priceless family heirloom! Legend says that-" Deftly, Inuyasha grabbed the scroll from Mr. Higurashi.

"Shut up," he said absently to the senior's outraged protests. He turned to Kagome. "I'm going to go give it to Kaede, and see if she can do anything with it." There was a knock at the door, and Mrs. Higurashi went to answer it.

"What about after dinner?" She turned to the deliveryman and handed him the charge. "Thank you." She closed the door, then looked back at the hanyou. "We should eat while it's still hot."

Inuyasha nodded reluctantly and sat down again. Mr. Higurashi snatched the scroll away and put it away carefully in the other room. What was a half an hour going to change?

(\ /)

(•.•)

( )

Inuyasha scooted away from the table and leaded against the wall behind him. He was stuffed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten so much… Next to him, Kagome moved back as well. "Watch it!" He put up his hand to keep her from falling over. "You're sitting with your back to the door," he reminded her.

"Whoops." Kagome seemed much more cheerful. Amber eyes roved the table. But then, so did everyone else. With the knowledge that the answer to Kagome's blindness could be written down on the scroll on the mantelpiece, there was hope. The scroll…

Inuyasha glanced at it, sitting on the bureau in the other room. He should probably give it to Kaede now. Kagome yawned widely and stretched. "I'm exhausted…" Wordlessly, Inuyasha got to his feet and helped the black-haired girl up. "Thanks."

"Mm," Inuyasha mumbled in response. "You wanna go to your room?" Kagome nodded, and Mrs. Higurashi watched with a knowing look in her brown eyes as the two of them walked slowly towards the staircase.

The three remaining sat in silence for a moment as the other two's footsteps echoed slightly on the stairs. "He's a nice boy, isn't he?" Mrs. Higurashi commented thoughtfully.

"Inuyasha's cool," Souta replied enthusiastically. He stretched and scooted away from the table. "'Night." He stood up slowly and wandered towards his room with a yawn. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in a while; he'd stayed up until late at night immersed in false realities.

"Nice for what?" Mr. Higurashi looked at his daughter with a sneaking suspicion lurking in the corner of his mind. She shook her head with a wan smile and stood up herself, stacking dishes with the sound of clinking porcelain.

"Oh, nothing," Mrs. Higurashi hummed to herself. "I was just thinking…" She put the dishes by the sink and went back into the other room to get more. She paused and put the dishes in the sink. "A nice boy," she murmured to herself.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

He really hadn't intended to spend the night in Kagome's time. The sounds at night were so foreign and loud, the smells disturbing and acrid. Despite Kagome's insistence that her world was so much safer than his, it had this harshness to it that his own thankfully lacked, a cold, uncaring characteristic. Maybe it was the towering buildings that made everything else seem so small and insignificant, or perhaps the way that everyone was so crowded, yet seemed to care about no one but themselves. Kagome seemed fine, though. It was probably just because he didn't belong….

Yet somehow, he ended up perched in the tree just outside her window, drowsiness making his amber eyes flicker shut, ears twitching idly to the sound of the ceaseless traffic. In a way, it was almost like the whispers of wind that rustled the leaves at night, providing an almost constant background noise.

In her room, Kagome sighed and turned in her bed. White ears flicked in her direction, catching the sound of rustling sheets and the shift of weight. He should probably get the scroll and give it to Kaede now… A weariness that he hadn't experienced in weeks settled over his awareness like a muffling blanket. "Shouldn't've eaten so much…" Heavy eyelids closed over golden eyes and he was asleep.

The door to Kagome's room opened a crack, letting in a bright light from the hallway, and Mrs. Higurashi glanced into the room. The wind blew softly through the open window and the white curtains drifted out slightly. She smiled. "Good night, you two," she whispered and shut the door quietly behind her.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Kaede!"

The old priestess looked up with mild surprise. "Well, Inuyasha. Where have you been?" Inuyasha ignored her question and shoved a sutra beneath her nose. Kaede blinked and took it with surprise.

"Can you do it?" Inuyasha watched her intently, amber eyes burning. Kaede unrolled the scroll and looked it over carefully. After a few moments, she looked back up at the anxious hanyou with a perplexed frown.

"Inuyasha, this isn't-"

"INUYASHAAAAA! WHAT HAPPENED TO KAGOMEEEEEE?" A frantic Shippo sprinted after him and landed on his head, tugging at his ears. "TELL ME!" Inuyasha winced and grabbed at the kitsune.

"OW! Brat! OW!" Shippo wouldn't let go of his ear. "Let GO, Brat!" He wrestled the small youkai off of his head and hit him on the head. "The hell's your problem? I told you that I'd tell you later! I'm busy right now!" Kaede watched with interest.

"Where **is** Kagome?" the old priestess ventured as Sango jogged up, an irritated frown on her face and Hiraikotsu swung over one shoulder.

"Inuyasha!" Sango didn't look too happy, Kaede noted. "Where've you been? And where's Kagome?" she demanded, hands on hips. Inuyasha bopped Shippo on the head one last time and tossed him to the demon exterminator.

"I'm GETTING to that!" the hassled demi-demon replied harshly. "Kaede!" He turned to the old priestess. "Can you do the spell or not?" She shook her head, and his hopes plummeted.

"Inuyasha, this isn't a **spell**, it's instructions," she replied. She tapped the scroll with one finger. "But what does this mean?" She watched the hanyou carefully. Inuyasha sighed and opened his mouth to explain.

"Inuyasha! Where have you been?" Miroku approached the demi-demon, staff jangling in his hand. "And where's Kagome?" A frustrated growl erupted from Inuyasha's throat.

"I'm **getting** to that!" He glanced at each of them in turn. "Are you all done now?" His looked pointedly at Shippo. "Good." He took a deep breath. "Kagome is in her time right now because there was an accident." Shippo opened his mouth, but Sango clapped her hand over it. "I don't understand completely, but she was getting something for her eyes, but they did something wrong, or something happened that usually didn't, and now she… she can't see." He exhaled heavily.

Silence. None of them knew what to say. Then Kaede's eyes widened in comprehension, and she tapped the scroll in her hands again. "So the scroll is for Kagome's eyes, to see!" Inuyasha nodded wordlessly. Kaede looked over the thing again, more carefully this time. "I see…" she murmured, then looked back up. "But this isn't a spell at all," she said again. "This is a set of instructions for regaining lost sight."

"So Kagome will be able to see again!" Shippo cheered. He paused. "How long does it take?" he asked Kaede. The priestess shrugged and looked the instructions over again.

"Oh." She closed the scroll tightly and shook her head regretfully. "This only works for those who are blind through curses. Kagome wasn't cursed, was she?" Inuyasha bit his lip.

"No, she wasn't." Kaede handed the scroll back to him. "That old fool!" Inuyasha suddenly exclaimed. The others looked at him with surprise. "He didn't even look to see if it would work! Raising everyone's hopes…" He stomped back towards the well.

"Is Kagome going to come back…?" Shippo wondered aloud in a small voice. Sango shook her head mutely and walked away slowly, her thoughts awhirl with the news, Shippo still in her grasp.

"Wait a moment-" Miroku looked to Kaede, an idea burning in his purple gaze. "I wonder, can Kagome still see the Shards…?" Kaede looked at him in surprise, then comprehension dawned on her face.

"Yes," she murmured back, mind racing. "She can sense demons and magic." She looked up at the monk. "Miroku, have you ever heard of Nozomi, the blind woman who could see what others could not?"

Miroku nodded. "That is precisely who I was thinking of." He frowned in thought. "Though, I heard that she was just a made-up legend…" He ran a hand through his black hair.

"All legends contain some truth," Kaede replied solemnly. "And I believe that Nozomi's does in particular." Miroku's purple eyes were grim as he replied.

"I hope that you're right."

(•.•)

( • )--

"Hey!" Inuyasha stomped into the kitchen, where Mr. Higurashi was reading the newspaper. He banged the scroll down on the table and the old man looked up with an irritated expression. "What's the big idea, huh?" Amber eyes smoldered with fury. "This isn't a spell! It's damned instructions! And it doesn't even **apply** to Kagome's problem!"

The senior blinked, then frowned at the hanyou. "Yes it does."

"No, it doesn't!"

"It does."

"No, it **doesn't**!"

"It doesn't?"

"**No!**"

The old man sighed and picked up the sutra in question. "Are you sure about that?" He looked over the yellowed parchment, the newspaper temporarily forgotten.

"Yes, I'm sure." The hanyou's voice was thick with sarcasm.

The old man sighed heavily. "I guess I was a eager to find a solution." He picked up the paper again and set the scroll aside carefully. He glanced over the top of the paper to Inuyasha. "Are you taking her back with you?"

"She wants to go," the demi-demon replied uncertainly. It would be dangerous… But then again, it was always dangerous and always had been. There had been narrow escapes, too. "I don't know," he admitted gruffly. "Where is she?"

"In her room, I think." Mr. Higurashi busied himself with the newspaper as Inuyasha trudged through the familiar hallway to the staircase and up, the steps creaking slightly under his bare feet.

"Hey, Kagome?" he called. "Kagome! You there?" He steeled himself, readying himself for the bad news that he was about to give her. The door was open, and he stepped into the room.

Kagome was sitting at her desk, pencil tapping evenly on a piece of paper. She didn't look very happy. She turned as he came in. "This is so frustrating!" she burst out. "I can't do my homework!"

The hanyou ignored her outburst and cleared his throat as he sat down on her bed. "Kagome, the spells not going to help at all. Kaede says that it's only for those who've been cursed blind." The pencil stopped tapping and Inuyasha shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Yeah… I heard," the black-haired girl replied, her tone falsely nonchalant. "But I didn't really think it would, anyway." She shrugged and, unbeknownst to her, the demi-demon blinked in surprise. "Grandpa's always messing up with those sorts of things, especially spells." She tossed the pencil onto the desk and it rolled off the smooth wooden surface, plummeting to the floor. "Oh, great," she muttered and moved her feet around under the table in an attempt to find it.

"I'll get it." Inuyasha leaned over and grabbed the writing implement, curiosity taking over as he turned the foreign object over in his hands. "How does this write?" It wasn't anything like a brush.

"Lemme see." Kagome extended a hand blindly. He dropped the mechanical pencil into her hand, and Kagome turned it around until she was holding it properly. "You hold it like this." She put the pencil onto the desk, tip first. "Am I on the paper?" Her voice held a poorly concealed quiver.

"Yeah." He shifted awkwardly on her bed again. How did you console someone whose life had just been turned upside down? He cleared his throat as Kagome made a wavering line across the paper. "Hm."

Kagome dropped the pencil and sighed heavily. "This is so frustrating!" She paused as she searched for words. "I can't read, I can't write! I can't watch TV, or even go out of my room!" She took a deep, steadying breath. "Sorry."

"Kagome, I'm sorry too." The black-haired girl sniffed and wiped her eyes. Inuyasha froze. He **knew** it was a stupid thing to say! Now she was upset again… Kagome rubbed her eyes fiercely and forced a smile.

"Let's go back, okay?" Kagome smile brightened slightly. She wasn't going to let this… this disability get in her way now. It was likely that she would live the rest of her life like this. The sooner she accepted it, the sooner she could adjust and get some sort of routine back into her life.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Well, I dunno about the rest of you, but **I** think it's pretty weird.

WARNING: I really have no idea where this is going as of now, so I might not update this for a while. (If I don't though, it'll be all the better for it!)


	2. Nozomi's Story

AN: Wow! I'm amazed at all the positive feedback that this story received… And thank you, everyone who left a comment! (Wow…! I'm still quite taken aback…)

By the way, Kagome might seem pretty OOC in this chapter; but then again, I think that- with her situation- it's likely that **anyone** would act like this… All mild and depressed, and such. I know that **I,** for one, would. Actually, I'd probably be worse.

Responses:

**Kumoritora**: Why, thank you! It's one of those things that you think up when you're bored and have nothing better to do. I have a lot of ideas like that, but most of them are incredibly stupid…

**FFchick**: Don't worry, it won't be so sad for long. (I hope!) Well what I mean is, I'm not trying to write angst or anything. So hopefully the next few chapters will be more upbeat than the last one.

**Rayel**: Thank you! (I don't know what else to say… XD. I'm not very good at this, am I? Sorry.)

**Kathryn Angelle**: Heh heh… sorry for the confusion! I call Kagome's grandfather "Mr. Higurashi" because he doesn't really have a first name (at least as far as I am aware…). And calling him "Grandpa" in the narration seems rather odd to me while writing it.

**Tiamath**: Thank you! I really tried to boost my writing up in this one. While looking over Haunted, I realized that some parts were really quite slapdash. An attempt at redemption, I guess you could say.

**Flame-sama**: I used the dilating solution as the source of Kagome's blindness because I HATE the stuff and it burns, and because none of the diseases that render the afflicted blind do so as suddenly as an accident. Of all the scenarios that would render the poor girl blind, I found that this one was the most plausible. Well, as of now they don't know why her eyes reacted the way they did. I'm still turning over reasons as to why in my mind… It'll appear in the later chapters, I promise!

**Mina7**: Thank you! I'm actually feeling slightly intimidated by the malleability of the story thus far; so many possibilities! But then, at the beginning it's pretty much always like that. Hopefully I'll get it going in a good direction.

**Katashi**: No worries! I'm obligated now, no stopping!

**Inu Kaiba**: Wow, thanks! I really don't know what to say… but thank you, and I'm glad that you like it!

**rin sama1989**: I've always wondered how one of the characters would respond to being seriously disabled in some way, and I agree. It's fascinating to see how people think the afflicted would respond to it. Well, I hope that you didn't have to wait too long!

**Purely Mistake**: Thank you! I guess weird wasn't quite the right word, was it? More like… different. Non-mainstream.

**DogDemon-4-Life**: I'm sorry you feel that way about the bunnies. They are my dividers, because I hate using exes. I used haitches for a while, but those sucked and I killed them before they were published. The bunnies are so much more original! (No, I'm not spasmontically sticking little animals throughout the entire story just for kicks. That would be stupid.)

**Candy617**: Waah! I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to make it depressing or anything! (When you really think about it though, being blind after relying on sight so long must be so terrible…) Don't worry, I wouldn't make it so that Kagome's stuck without her eyesight because that **is** depressing. Really depressing.

**Carly**: Hello to you, too! Thank you, and I will keep writing! (I'm not going anywhere any time soon.)

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Disclaimer: Not mine! (Obviously…)

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The Mind's Eye

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Chapter Two: Nozomi's Lesson

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"Are you sure, Kagome?" Mrs. Higurashi chewed on her lip worriedly. "I mean, it's so soon after the accident. Maybe you should learn to adjust to your… condition before going back."

Kagome wrestled the large yellow backpack onto her back and fixed her sunglasses, which had gone slightly askew during her struggles. "Yeah. I should at least stop by and say hello." Her smile held a slightly grim note. "Hey, where's the door?" she asked nonchalantly, as if it didn't matter.

"Here." Inuyasha grabbed her arm and carefully led her to the side. "Watch the steps," he cautioned. Amber eyes flickered in Mrs. Higurashi's direction. The worried mother smiled quickly in return and glanced back at her daughter.

"Well, if you're sure," she said reluctantly. "But be careful, okay? Don't go wandering away somewhere…" she trailed off awkwardly. Kagome could "wander" anywhere without anyone's help.

"I'll be fine, Mom." Kagome stopped at the bottom step and turned carefully until she was facing the doorway. "Besides, I've got Inuyasha to protect me, right?" She grinned in the demi-demon's direction and he shifted awkwardly. Kagome turned back to her mother. "I'll see you in… a few days, I guess."

"…Okay. You're sure about this, Kagome?" the older woman confirmed, one hand gripping the doorframe like a vice. The black-haired girl nodded firmly. "Well… goodbye! Say hello to your friends for me!"

"Bye, Mom!" Kagome waved back as Inuyasha led her slowly towards the well-house. "You can go faster, you know," she informed the hanyou. "I'm not an old lady." A white ear flicked in annoyance.

"The footing's difficult," he shot back as he led her up the creaky wooden stairs. "Whoa, careful!" Kagome stumbled over the entrance. "See? What did I tell ya?" Kagome sighed heavily in response.

It was slow going, and she was getting impatient as her companion led her delicately down the dusty wooden steps that she'd known since a child. Despite her familiarity with the well-house, she found herself stepping carefully, unsure of the footing. Countless times she'd hurried down the creaky wooden slats without a second's thought.

"Last step." Inuyasha's voice broke through her thoughts. Her brown school shoes tapped quietly against the floor as the still cool air of the well-house swirled around her ankles. They stopped at the edge of the well and Kagome flinched in surprise as she felt Inuyasha's hands around her waist. "I'm just going to pick you up so you don't fall over when we go through," he explained unnecessarily. She'd just been surprised, that was all.

Dank air rushed by and blew back her hair as the plummeted towards the bottom. The familiar drifting feeling of traveling through time surrounded her, and then her feet hit the heavy moist dirt. She stumbled again and Inuyasha kept her upright. "I'm gonna jump now."

The air rushed by again and they were out of the well. Kagome took hesitating steps forward and the grass swished softly around her ankles. "Kagome, this way." Feeling rather foolish, the black-haired girl turned towards his voice and a familiar clawed hand grabbed her arm. "Come on." His voice was gruff.

They trudged carefully down the path; small twigs and leaves crunching underfoot as they went. Nervously, Kagome adjusted the concealing sunglasses and wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on the soft fabric of her skirt. Inuyasha stopped suddenly and Kagome turned nervously. "Is someone there?" she asked Inuyasha in a nervous whisper.

"Kagome?" Shippo's voice wavered from somewhere around her feet. Small arms wrapped themselves around her legs and a tiny body pressed itself against them. Kagome's smile was bittersweet as leaned over and picked up the kitsune.

"Hi, Shippo," Kagome replied quietly. "How've things been while I was gone?" Large green eyes stared up at her, unbeknownst to the blind girl. His bottom lip trembled slightly as he reached a small hand up towards the strange things covering her sightless eyes. A small voice in the back of his mind wondered it these things that made her blind, maybe if he took them off…

"Back off, Shippo," Inuyasha barked harshly, amber eyes smoldering intensely in the expression he usually wore when thinking of Kikyo. The kitsune hastily drew back his hand. There was an awkward silence disturbed only by the hushed murmurs of leaves as they rustled in a light breeze. Kagome laughed nervously.

"Let's go see Kaede, okay?" She turned in Inuyasha's direction. Wordlessly, he led her forward again. Shippo clung tightly to the fabric of her shirt and Inuyasha's grip on her elbow tightened slightly as the sounds of village life reached her ears. As they reached the outskirts, all talking slowly died down.

"Well? What are you staring at?" Inuyasha demanded roughly. Kagome smiled nervously. They were probably staring at her. The half-demon led her away hastily as the familiar noises of the village slowly resumed. "Gawping idiots," he muttered under his breath. "Oh, here's Sango," he said for Kagome's convenience.

"Hi, Sango!" She forced a smile on her face and waved cheerfully ahead, assuming that the demon exterminator was coming from that direction. Insecurity surrounded her like a shroud. She was completely helpless. A once familiar world was clouded, unreachable. She'd never felt so alone and helpless.

"Kagome?" Her friend's voice was soft and filled with worry. "Are you alright?" A hand briefly touched her arm, and Kagome stubbornly kept her mouth upturned in a smile so fake that it almost made her laugh. The truth? She was not all right at all. All at once, she was a stranger in this familiar scenario; the villagers stopped to stare and whisper, Inuyasha was silent and unreachable.

"I'm okay." She shrugged and adjusted the unfamiliar sunglasses. With a small tug on her elbow, Inuyasha led her through the village. As they went, Kagome could here the village sounds slowly die down to whispers as she passed. She felt Sango take her other elbow, and the two of them led her away, shielding her from the stares of the villagers. With defiant green eyes, Shippo stared them down until they went back to work. The tension was almost tangible between them.

"Oh, Kagome!" Sango's voice was falsely light. "Miroku said that he and Kaede wanted to talk to you. Something about seeing again." Kagome's false smile melted away into a genuine one and she turned eagerly towards her friend.

"Really?" A painful hope bubbled in her chest and she said giddily, "What do I have to do?" Sango smiled at the eagerness in Kagome's voice. The exterminator glanced at Inuyasha. The hanyou stared straight ahead, his expression as unreadable as his brother's so often was.

"Why don't you ask them?" Sango let go of Kagome's elbow. "Watch the step. We're at Kaede's." Kagome nodded eagerly and hurried up the steps, carefully feeling for the door.

"Ah, Kagome!" Miroku's voice was friendly and inviting. Whatever tension or awkwardness he currently felt towards her was hidden well beneath his smooth welcome. "I have some good news. It could be possible for you to-"

"regain my sight?" Kagome finished. Inuyasha let go of her elbow and she sat down on the floor of Kaede's hut, tucking her feet beneath her as the familiar worn wood scraped against her legs. Shippo detangled his small hands from her shirt and sat down on her lap.

"Have you ever heard the story of the woman Nozomi, the blind woman who could see?" Kaede's voice came from another corner of the room and Kagome turned in her direction. Taking her silence as a "no", the old priestess continued. "Nozomi was a blind priestess who managed to see through her powers. I believe that Miroku knows the story better than me."

The black-haired man nodded and frowned as he thought. "I believe that she went blind as a child. Her eyesight deteriorated over time until she couldn't see at all." Kagome nodded. "But she possessed rather remarkable spiritual powers. I'm not sure about how she learned, completely. The legend is ancient, far older than even Midoriko's. But as far as I know, she managed to train herself to be aware of her surroundings through her power, to become so sensitive to it that she could 'see' things within her mind." The monk paused. "Or so the legend says," he amended.

"But how did she train herself to be more aware?" the black-haired girl asked curiously, eagerness swelling through her voice. "Do you mean, like meditating?" Miroku glanced at Kaede, who shrugged in response.

"That's what I'm assuming," he replied. His voice took on a more serious tone. "Kagome, we don't know for sure if this will help at all, but I'm curious as to whether or not you can still 'see' the Shikon Shards."

Kagome paused and fumbled with the large fragment around her neck. Looking down, she could still **see** it, almost. She knew where it was, but it didn't register within her vision. "I can, it's still there." Her voice was low and excited. "It's not something I can see, though. I just know where it is." It was difficult to explain. Before, she always saw the shards with her eyes and located them through that.

"Hm," Kaede remarked cryptically. The others looked at her expectantly. "Kagome sees the things that others cannot through her mind, not her eyes," the old priestess explained. "If she could somehow hone those senses to do what her eyes once did…" She trailed off, allowing everyone to absorb the implications of her statement.

"Just as Nozomi did," Miroku added. He hesitated for a moment, then went on. "But be careful. Nozomi's… death involved some mysterious circumstances. No one really knows what happened to her."

Kagome smiled nervously. "What do you mean? Are you saying that her powers somehow **killed** her?" Maybe this was a bad idea after all. If the price of her "sight" was her life, then she'd rather just be blind.

She could almost hear the shrug in Miroku's reply. "That's what I mean. No one knows. As far as the legend goes, she just disappeared." Kagome tucked the Jewel Shards back into her shirt. In her mind, they shone like small bright pinpricks of light among darkness.

"What do I have to do, to learn?" She'd just have to be careful. Besides, this Nozomi could've disappeared under normal circumstances. Miroku said that no one knew. To her left, cloth rustled.

"Are you sure, Kagome?" Inuyasha's voice was rough, but serious. The black-haired girl nodded firmly. "It might kill you, if what's-her name's disappearance had anything to do with it."

"Nozomi," Miroku corrected, receiving a careless grumbled from Inuyasha. To Kagome, he remarked, "I would recommend opening your mind to your surroundings."

Behind the sunglasses, Kagome's sightless eyes blinked. "And how do I do that?" she asked patiently and sighed. "This is going to take a lot of work, isn't it?" She propped her chin up on her knees.

"Giving up already?" The caustic remark came from Inuyasha. "I knew you would." There was smug satisfaction in his voice as he goaded her on. Kagome fell for the bait.

"No way!" she retorted heatedly. "Who said I was giving up?" He'd certainly recovered his attitude quickly. "I was just wondering, that's all." She turned in Kaede's direction. "How long will it take, do you think?"

Kaede paused before replying. "I can't be sure. I have never encountered this particular situation. I believe that seeing again could take anywhere from just a month to half a year." Kagome slumped in her seat. "But with your… exceptional talents, I would say a month or two, if you really work at it."

Kagome nodded eagerly and the glasses slipped from her nose slightly. Hastily, she pushed them back up. "I will." She paused again. "But what do I **do**?"

"Well," Miroku began hesitantly from her right. "I'm not quite sure. Neither is Kaede." Kagome slumped over again with a sigh. "But-" he interjected quickly, "-it makes sense to try and widen your perception of the world through your powers."

"And how do I do **that**?" Kagome demanded with exasperation. "I need something definite here. How do I 'widen my perceptions'?" Miroku ran a hand through his black hair and looked at the blind girl with bemusement.

"You just… do it." Purple eyes glanced at Inuyasha and quickly away as the hanyou started to growl with irritation. "That is to say, observe more closely through your powers. Associate them in your mind with what your eyes would normally do- take in the world around you."

"But," Kaede added. "This means that you will constantly be using your powers, Kagome. It will be tiring, and perhaps your ability to purify will diminish. Your powers will be directed at seeing rather than purifying." Kagome nodded.

"Of course," Miroku took up the conversation where the old priestess left off. "If you build up your powers, you'll be fine in both regards." They all looked at Kagome. The black-haired girl pushed the sunglasses- what an odd contraption! Miroku thought- back into place and nodded firmly.

"I'll try it." She smiled grimly. "Starting now."

(•.•)

( • )--

Kagome sighed and rubbed her temples. Easier said than done. It had been two days already, and she hadn't improved at all. She wasn't even sure what she was trying to do.

Around her, leaves whispered in the wind. The cool breeze lifted her hair from the back of her neck. The sun beat down upon her exposed knees and she curled them towards her chest. The long grass waved around her, gently caressing her arms and ankles. She could feel these things, hear them. But she couldn't see them. She didn't even know how to access her powers. She was pretty much untrained in that regard. "Not like Kikyo," she murmured, the name slightly stinging her lips.

"What about Kikyo?" She jumped, startled, and got to her feet. To her left, the grass swished quietly, signaling the hanyou's approach. Dusting off her short green skirt, she turned in the direction of the sound.

"Oh! Don't sneak up on me like that!" she stammered and sat back down. "I didn't see- notice you, Inuyasha." She received a snort in reply as he joined her in the grass.

"I guess that means your training's not going so well." She nodded in agreement and grabbed at the grass. She plucked a blade and twirled it between her fingers. He paused, and they both sat in silence for a moment. "What about Kikyo?" he asked again.

"Well, she wasn't here if that's what you mean," Kagome said flatly. "You came running at the sound of her name, didn't you?" she accused. It seemed like something he would do, and it stung.

"I was here all along, idiot." Inuyasha's voice was disgruntled.

"Oh." The wind blew again and a coarse cloth –probably Inuyasha's long sleeve- brushed against her crossed leg. She flinched.

"Someone needs to make sure that demons don't come along, looking for the Shikon and carry you off," he replied, by way of explanation. "Especially since you wouldn't even notice."

Kagome bit her lip and didn't respond. It was true; she didn't notice him when he'd been around for who knows how long. How could she see another-

"Demon!" She turned towards the disturbance. "There's a demon, over there somewhere!" She pointed in the direction that she felt the aura. Next to her, the grass rustled as Inuyasha stood up.

"What did I tell you? Stay right there, Kagome," he told her. She heard Tetsusaiga slide out of its sheath and then transform. Remembering Kaede's instructions, she tried to pinpoint the demon's location in her mind. Distantly, she heard bushes rustle as the beast moved in closer.

There was a low growl, and she shuddered in spite of herself. Before at least, she could see the demon and knew where it was. Now… it was simply a feeling, a presence coming vaguely from the right. The demon itself wasn't frightening. She'd dealt with those before. It was not knowing. Who said that ignorance was bliss?

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Inuyasha drawled. "Shut up and come out so I can kill ya." The bushes thrashed as the demon revealed itself. "No Shikon?" the hanyou asked her. Kagome shook her head in the negative. "Good." Tetsusaiga came down with a rush of wind that tugged at her hair and clothes, and the demon screamed. She heard it collapse on the grass.

"Inuyasha!" The demi-demon turned, a bored expression on his face. Miroku stopped at the edge of the clearing; Sango following closely behind him with Hiraikotsu swung over one shoulder. "We heard the screams." He stopped by the well, a few feet from Inuyasha.

"You're a little late," Inuyasha replied and put his sword back in its sheath. "But if you wanna help, you could suck up all this garbage." He indicated the gory mess left by Tetsusaiga's attack. "Ow!" Miroku's staff came down upon his skull with a jangle of metal.

"I'm not a maid, here to clean up after your messes," Miroku retorted. But all the same, the demon's carcass –or rather chunks of carcass- was quite disgusting and would end up stinking and bloated in a few day's time. It was for the best to suck it up. Deftly, he removed the prayer beads from around his wrist and pulled the gory mess into the void.

"You say that, and do it anyway." Inuyasha sat down on the grass next to Kagome again. He glanced at her. She hadn't moved since the demon appeared. "Kagome? Are you still alive?" She slowly turned her head towards him, a small smile of delight on her face. Inuyasha leaned forward in concern. "Hey, are you alright? You look a little, um, weird."

"I can see!" Her smile widened. "I see the well!" She paused. "That **is** the well, right?" She pointed at the wooden establishment. Inuyasha looked at her in surprise and Miroku sat down in the grass across from her.

"That was fast," Inuyasha commented dryly. "Can you see anything else?" Kagome paused, her brow furrowed in concentration as she focused. The others waited patiently.

"It's difficult," she said eventually. "I can't- I don't really know how to really use my powers on purpose, except for arrows." She sighed and shrugged unhappily. "But I can't shoot those any more because I'd miss completely, being **blind**-" she spat the word, "and all." Sango sat down and patted her on the shoulder comfortingly.

"But if you work hard, it'll be as if you never lost your sight," she reminded her friend, trying to keep her motivated. Knowing from personal experience, it was best to focus on what she could accomplish and try not to dwell on what was lost. A dark-haired young boy, smiling shyly, entered her thoughts briefly and she smiled sadly.

Kagome nodded. "You're right," she said reluctantly and tried again. How exactly did it feel when she sensed the demon? What did she do? Trying to recall that exact feeling, things started to flicker in her perception again. There was the well. The Shikon shards around her neck were obvious, the evil aura of the forest less so. And so slight that she barely noticed it was something… "What's that?" she reached out a hesitant hand, unsure of what she was touching. "Here…"

"You can see Hiraikotsu?" Sango's voice was surprised. Kagome nodded and withdrew her hand, trying at the same time to keep her mind open. "I guess it does have an aura, with it being a demonic weapon." It was hard and she was losing it.

"Barely," she admitted. "It's like-oh, darn it!" She banged her fist against the ground in frustration. "I lost it!" She sighed. "I can't keep a grip on it, whatever it is. It's really hard to concentrate."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it," Miroku assured her. The grass rustled as he stood. "I'm quite surprised, actually. It's only been two days since you first began, and already you've managed to see, even if it's only a bit."

Kagome nodded and pushed the sunglasses back on the bridge of her nose. "Yeah. Kaede **did** say that it would take me a while to get used to it." She turned towards Miroku's voice. "Will it be like seeing? Or just knowing where things are?"

She heard the monk sigh. "That I do not know, but it makes sense to think that you will experience your surroundings as you do now." Kagome swallowed hard and nodded. She turned away and plucked at grass that she couldn't see.

Kagome heard Sango stand up as well. After a pause, they left, the grass swishing as they walked away and Miroku's staff jingling quietly. She bit her lip, despair welling up inside her. She would never see again, unless the doctors at home came up with a miracle cure. She'd hoped that if she mastered this other seeing technique, she might be able to really see again, with colors and people. But all this "sight" was, was sensing auras. "It's better than nothing." But it did little to console her. Already she missed the sunset, the lush green of grass and the earthy browns of the clay jars that Kaede used. It was hard to imagine that once she took all these things for granted.

A hand rested briefly on her shoulder; she'd forgotten that Inuyasha was there. "Just give it some time," he murmured softly. His haori rustled as he pulled his hand away.

Kagome's smile was bittersweet as she nodded in agreement.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Did it go well, Kagome?" Kaede looked up at the blind girl as Inuyasha led her through the doorway and into her hut. The black-haired girl's expression was unreadable, partly due to the strange things that she had on her face.

"She saw Hiraikotsu's aura today," Miroku answered. "And the well's also." They glanced at Kagome as she fumbled with her shoes and sat down on the rough wood floor. Inuyasha sat down in the nearby corner.

"It's hard to keep concentrating, though," Kagome admitted. "I could only hold if for a few seconds." She crossed her legs and leaned back against the wall wearily. The glasses slipped down her nose and she pushed them back up again. "I should go and get another pair," she complained. "These really don't fit."

Shippo looked at her curiously as he tossed around a bright red rubber ball that Kagome had given him a while ago. "What do they do?" The ball bounced away from him and he chased after it, earning a bump on the head from Inuyasha when the bouncing thing hit him in the shoulder.

"They hide my eyes," Kagome said after a moment. "In my time, blind people wear them so that other people don't see their eyes. Normal people wear them when the sun is bright."

Shippo nodded absentmindedly and rubbed at the bump on his head as he made his way back to where he was sitting. Kagome sighed again and tried to use her powers again. It wasn't working. Whatever she had done before wasn't happening again.

"-Me?" Kaede's voice broke through her concentration. "Kagome? Did you hear me?" The black-haired girl shook her head slightly and turned in the direction that the priestesses voice came from.

"Sorry. What?"

"In your time, you said that your doctors can do amazing things. Would they perhaps be able to fix your eyes?" Kaede repeated. Kagome shrugged and sat up slightly.

"It depends. The doctors are doing experiments right now to see what went wrong. Normally, people don't go blind from the dilation solution that they put in your eyes." She laughed bitterly. "I guess I was the lucky one, then." No one had anything to say to that.

After a moment, Miroku broke the silence. "Were you just trying to use your powers again, Kagome?" The fire cackled quietly as someone shifted the logs about. The black-haired girl nodded, a frown creasing her forehead.

"I don't know what went wrong, though," she admitted. The smell of burnt wood spread around the hut as Kaede brought the fire to life. "I couldn't get a hold of it like I did before." She sighed heavily. "I couldn't find it."

"Maybe you weren't looking hard enough." The caustic remark came from none other that Inuyasha. Kagome's temper flared as she whirled on the hanyou.

"What do you know about it?" She snapped, eyes behind the sunglasses stinging angrily. What she really needed right now was some sympathy, not Inuyasha's customary rude and insensitive attitude.

"You always give up so easily." She could hear the shrug in his voice, coupled with a brusque roughness. "You'll never get anything done if you keep giving up when it gets hard. If you don't stick to it, you'll regret it," he added, before falling silent again.

"Inuyasha…" There was awe in Miroku's voice as he responded. "That is quite possibly the most mature statement I have ever heard you make." Despite her present emotional state, Kagome was had to repress a giggle.

"Are you **implying** something, monk?" Inuyasha asked sharply, amber eyes flashing dangerously. Miroku merely shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. Sango looked up from where she was polishing Hiraikotsu- a nightly ritual- and glanced between the two. Her brown eyes turned to Kagome.

"It'll take time," she reminded the younger girl. "Remember what Kaede said?" She looked back at the old priestess, who nodded as she adjusted a log in the fire pit. The fire hissed and spat out sparks as she rotated one of the larger bits to the left, the embers glowing and lighting the darkening room with a soft orange glow.

"I'm surprised that you've gotten even this far in just two days," Kaede admitted. "With the little training that you've had, and the amount of time that you've had you've made magnificent progress."

Kagome smiled slightly, the firelight playing across the dark lenses of her glasses and reflecting the image. "I'd forgotten," she murmured softly and turned away. It had only been two days, and already familiar faces and places that she thought were set firmly in her memory were starting to fade. The last four days since she'd lost her sigh days seemed like an eternity in itself, a dark one filled with nothing but a relentless despair.

Abruptly she stood up and felt her way to the door. "Kagome, where are you going?" Kaede's voice was concerned as she somehow managed to find her shoes and struggled to put the on. At last standing upright with her shoes on, she shrugged.

"Out. I'll be back in a bit." Although her tone was gentle, they all detected a firmness that forbade any of them to try and stop her. The fire popped and hissed, the orange light dancing across the floor of the small room as the others sat in tense silence, Kagome's footsteps muffled against the earth. Kaede glanced at Inuyasha, followed soon after by Sango, then Miroku.

He glared back at them for a moment, the gave in. "Fine, fine! I'll go follow her," he grumbled and stood up, tossing one resentful glance over his shoulder as he pushed aside the door. His footsteps gradually disappeared, leaving them in silence once more. Purple eyes glanced towards the door, then to the other two. Kaede stared back blankly. Sango shrugged. Wordlessly, he stood up and quietly snuck out after the hanyou.

Sango sighed and shook her head as she stood up and followed him, leaving Hiraikotsu back in the hut as she padded softly behind him. Kaede stared back at the fire, a small amused smile playing across her lips. She shook her head ruefully and glanced at Shippo. The kitsune was asleep, a small frown creasing his forehead his even breathing filled the silence of the hut. She patted him on the head gently and moved back to tend to the guttering fire.

(•.•)

( • )--

"Sh."

The bushes rustled quietly as Miroku peeked over the edge, purple eyes wide with interest as he watched Inuyasha trail Kagome. The black-haired girl was fumbling across the meadow and towards the forest.

"You 'sh'!" Sango retorted in a whisper as she poked her head up, eyes piercing the nighttime darkness. She shivered slightly in the cold. The air had a bite to it, tonight, she noticed. Moonlight pierced the dense foliage overhead, lighting the ground below milky white patches; soon it would be the New Moon. Above the clearing where Kagome sat- head in hands as she rubbed her temples wearily- stars glittered brightly in the velvety sky. Sango sighed. It was so beautiful. Somehow, it always managed to impress her whenever she paused to look around her. She glanced to the side, at first surprised when Miroku leaned closer towards her, then annoyed.

"Back off, pervert!" She hissed as loudly as she dared, her blush hidden by the dark night. Miroku backed away, his hands in the air in a placating gesture. She glanced at Inuyasha. The hanyou was standing stiffly at the other end of the meadow, clearly uneasy at following Kagome around.

"I know you're there, Inuyasha." At Kagome's voice, the two in the bushes looked up and refocused their attention. Things were starting to get interesting. They looked at the hanyou. His sigh was weary rather than bad-tempered as he trudged across the meadow and sat down next to her. His voice carried across the meadow and over the wind as it rustled the long grass and the leaves on the trees in the forest.

"Hey." Sango almost snorted. A typical Inuyasha response. He glanced at the girl sitting next to her. Weariness and despair turned down the corners of her mouth, and she tried to smile back at him.

"Hi," she replied. The smile didn't stay fixed. It wavered, then melted away again. She shuddered slightly; it was cold and the grass was damp. A warm thick fabric was draped over her awkwardly, and she turned towards Inuyasha.

"Can't have you getting sick, can we?" he stated matter-of-factly and shrugged. He looked down at the grass.

"Thanks." Kagome settled his haori around her tighter. The wind blew softly in gusts, toying with the long grass and causing the leaves to stir and whisper amongst themselves. Neither of them had anything to say.

"You wanna come back inside now?" Inuyasha finally asked. Kagome nodded and he helped her stand, his haori still wrapped around her. They walked back to Kaede's in silence.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"The shards up there!" Kagome pointed up towards where she felt the shard. "It's moving now, to the left!" She concentrated, trying to open her mind as Kaede said. There it was; the demon's aura. But this time… she frowned and bit her lip, willing herself to "see".

This time, it wasn't just an aura. It had a shape; that of a many-legged insect of some kind. For the first time in the last five days since she'd started the training, a true sunny smile broke out on her face. "I can see it! It's in the head!"

"Got it!" Inuyasha called back as he leaped over a rock and towards the demon, amber eyes narrowed with concentration as he raised Tetsusaiga over his head for the final blow. "Hah!" The sword whistled through the air and came down upon the centipede, severing the head from the rest of it.

The body thrashed and convulsed, crashing into trees and knocking them over. Calmly, Miroku removed the prayer beads from around his arm and sucked up the body. He sighed. It seemed that lately, he'd just been the cleanup; the demon in the meadow, this centipede…

"You saw it!" Shippo jumped onto Kagome's shoulder and grinned widely. "You saw the demon!" Sango patted her friend on the shoulder and congratulated her; Miroku nodded and smiled. Even Inuyasha couldn't keep a smug smirk off of his face as he looked at the delighted girl.

Kagome laughed. "I got it!" She made her way slowly towards where she sensed the Shikon Shard and stooped to pick it up. She could feel it purify instantly in her mind, the distorted, dark tint that registered in her mind erased. She fumbled with the shards around her neck and added it to the bottle, the smile still on her face and a feeling of accomplishment making her happier than she'd been in days.

Without a backward glance at the battleground behind them, a mess of shattered trees and upturned earth, the five left, Kagome riding on Inuyasha's back as usual, with Sango and Miroku on Kirara. Kagome smiled slightly as the wind rushed by, lifting the hair from the back of her neck and whipping it around.

They'd left two days ago after they'd all agreed that Kagome was ready –they would've left the day before if it wasn't for Inuyasha, surprisingly- and resumed their normal activities: fighting demons, hunting Naraku and traveling across Japan. Kagome's power's seemed to be adjusting in little bits; today was the first day that she'd been able to pick up the shape of the demon through it's aura.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku looked down from Kirara's back to the half-demon as he sped along down below. He looked up. "It's getting dark. We should probably find a village soon, or a place to camp." The hanyou hesitated for a moment, the nodded grudgingly in consent. "I suggest we search over there." Miroku pointed towards rolling hills in the distance, illuminated by the sinking sun as it dipped lower on the horizon.

"What?" Kagome frowned. Inuyasha glanced at her. "There's a demonic aura, approaching quickly from behind us!" Her voice took on a relieved note as her heightened senses recognized the demon. "It's only Myoga, never mind."

Inuyasha sighed and resheathed his sword. Sure enough, a small bird swooped down from overhead and a miniscule speck dropped from its feathers. "Inuyasha-sama!" A familiar voice rang out squeakily. "I am so glad to see you!" The others were already back on the road. "Wait!"

The flea demon hurried after and leaped onto Kagome's shoulder. "Hello, Kagome!" Myoga settled down on the blind girl and adjusted the sack around his shoulders.

"Oh hi, Myoga!" Kagome's light mood carried into her voice as she greeted the miniscule demon. "Where'd you run off to this time?" Myoga bristled at the accusation, despite it's accuracy.

"I was gathering information!" He said hotly. In a more inquisitive tone, he asked her, "Kagome, what is that on your head?" He bounced up and down on her shoulder for a better look.

The black-haired girl barely flinched, but Inuyasha felt her tense on his back. Her reply was calm and almost nonchalant. "Oh, these?" She let go of his shoulder with one hand to point at the sunglasses. "They're called sunglasses. In my time, blind people wear them." The grassy hills surrounding them were reflected upon the glassy surface of the lenses

"Then why are **you** wearing them?" Myoga asked obliviously. "You can see perfectly well, right?" He paused when no one said anything, eyes widening with shock. "What! You mean… you **can't** see?" Kagome nodded grimly, her grip on Inuyasha tightening just enough for him to notice. "But… how? When?" The flea sniffed unhappily. "Oh, how horrible! For one so young, with so much of your life ahead of you! This is so terrib-"

Inuyasha's thumb silenced him abruptly. "Shut up," he told his retainer tightly. "We already know all that. Besides," he glanced at the silent girl on his back. "Kagome's learning how to see again." That evoked a small smile from the suddenly quiet girl. And just when Kagome was starting to act like herself again… "Damned old flea," he muttered under his breath.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Are you sure, Houshi-sama?" the stooped man glanced anxiously at the large house behind him, eyebrows drawing together anxiously. "There have been no sick, none possessed in my house."

Miroku nodded solemnly. "As the demon would want it to be." He pulled out a sutra. "But I can see the aura from here. A malignant demon indeed. It feeds off its hosts slowly. I expect that you wouldn't experience any ill effects for several days to come."

In the background, Sango snorted and shook her head. "What a liar," she muttered as she dropped Hiraikotsu on the ground, a small puff of dust pluming up from the dry dirt. Kirara mewed in response.

"Actually, he's telling the truth, Kagome murmured as she focused her powers. "There's… something around the roof. But I barely noticed it at all until he mentioned it." She shrugged. "Miroku's better at this than me, still." She shrugged. It had only been five days, after all. Kaede told her a month at the least, and already she was making quite a lot of progress. It was now easier to access her powers, and they were more sensitive than before.

"So he **does** tell the truth, every once in a while." After a moment, Sango frowned. "But why is it always the rich man's house…?" She looked sharply at Miroku as he bargained with the village's headman.

"He probably plants the thing there," Inuyasha snorted, arms crossed over his chest. "It's the sort of thing that he'd do." Sango sighed and agreed as Miroku trotted over, staff jingling in his hand.

"We have lodgings," he told them all with a satisfied smile. At their sour looks, he backed away slightly, confused. "What?" Sango put her hands on her hips and looked at him with skeptical brown eyes.

"Why is there always a demon at the **headman's** house?" she demanded. Inuyasha glared at him, too. Miroku shrugged carelessly.

"They go after the big houses. They have more people in them, I guess." Sango stared relentlessly. "I don't know. Let's just go in now, okay?" He shooed them all ahead and glanced at the roof curiously as the evening sky darkened into night. "Why **do** they do that…?" He shrugged and went in after the others.

"…story. An ancient priestess, I believe," Myoga acknowledged. "She used her powers to see, as the monk told you." Miroku sat down with the others as they listened to the demon flea. "She was born with sight, but it deteriorated until she couldn't see, at the age of three or so. Another priestess taught her how to use her spiritual powers, and Nozomi ended up using them to see because she was so well trained. It is said that she could 'see' as well as any with true sight, if not better because she could see through things and far into the distance." He frowned slightly. "But she disappeared at the age of six, mysteriously. One day she was there, the next she was gone. No one knows what happened."

Miroku looked at him in surprise. "I wasn't aware that she was just a child. I thought that she was an adult when she disappeared." He whistled appreciatively. "To be **that** powerful at six…"

Myoga shook his head. "No, she was six or seven. I'm sure of that at least. Perhaps demons feared her and killed her." He paused. "Though at that time, I don't believe that there **were** many demons. They only started to multiply in the last hundred years or so, with all the slaughter going on."

The others nodded. "But still, six?" Kagome's voice was high with incredulity. "And you said she could see better than people who could see normally."

Myoga nodded, then cleared his throat. "That's right." Kagome sighed enviously and reached for a bao, courtesy of the household in gratitude for getting rid of the demon.

"I'm **fifteen** and I probably don't know half of what she did!" she protested. "And I wonder, how could she see like normal people? How could she detect trees and mountains with her power? It's not like they have auras, do they?"

"As a Shinto shrine maiden, I'm surprised that you didn't know this," Myoga told her. Kagome bristled slightly as the condescending statement. "Shikon, remember? Four souls? Everything is made up of four souls." Kagome nodded.

"Yeah, but so what?" She chewed her food before continuing. "I mean, what does that have to do with seeing anything?" Myoga shook his head at her ignorance.

"I think that Nozomi could **see** the souls, somehow. She trained enough that she was able to see even that." The flea hopped from Inuyasha's shoulder to Kagome's. "It is similar to what Midoriko did. She pulled out the souls of demons and righted the balance. Nozomi simply detected the souls and identified them by the balances between the four souls, and the aura of each. All things have auras, however faint, if they have a soul."

"So I'm not that far along at all." Kagome sighed and pulled a piece of the bao she was eating. "And here I thought I was halfway there." Inuyasha glanced at her sourly.

"Giving up again? It's only been five days, and you're already through?" He snorted. "Sometimes I just can't believe you, Kagome." She whirled around, clearly furious. Her sunglasses glinted in the dark

"I already told you, I'm not giving up!" She said stubbornly. "I just didn't realize how much I needed to do…" she murmured, anger abated in a moment. Miroku looked at Myoga curiously.

"You certainly seem to know a lot about Nozomi," he commented. "Did you know her, possibly?" None of them really knew how long Myoga had been around.

Myoga laughed at that. "Of course not! She's **way** before my time. My grandfather told me about it. It was before his time, too." He shook his head. "No, Nozomi's story is far older than me."

"I thought so," he acknowledged. "Her story isn't often told. Few know of it. Those who do usually don't know much, like me." He glanced at the flea demon on Kagome's knee. "We are lucky to have you around , Myoga."

The old flea beamed. "It's nice to know that **someone** appreciates me." Cloth rustled in the dark. "Ow!" Inuyasha's thumb came down upon the miniscule demon. "Inuyasha-sama, what did I do?"

"You talk to much," the hanyou replied. Kagome, Sango and Shippo moved to the other side of the screen to sleep. Miroku settled himself on the futon as Inuyasha found a more comfortable position against the wall.

"Sorry," Myoga apologized quickly. "I'll be quiet now."

"Good."

"Okay."

"Shut up, flea."

"Oh yes, sorry."

"Just shut up!"

"I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"You're right. I'm done now."

The others sighed and settled down, sleep muffling their minds and lowering shutting their eyelids as one by one they drifted off.

(•.•)

( • )--

"Come on, come!"

Pale hands beckoned from the darkness. "Come with me, come." Slowly, Kagome reached out a hand. "Yes, come on! You have so much to see…" The small hands reached out.

Kagome tried to grab the offered hand, but it sank through her grasp. Gasping, she pulled back. "No, come!" The soft voice called and cajoled, begging and pleading. "Come Kagome! There is so much that you don't know… I can show you!" Her hand went out as the voice appealed to her better nature, but the hands were so far away, lost in the darkness around her. Yearningly, she reached out and tried to cross the distance between them, the flurry of soft whispers urging her on.

"Kagome, Kagome, come with me. I can show you, I can help you."

But no matter how far she walked and how fast she ran for those hands, they never got any closer. She was too far away. She couldn't reach far enough. And still they beckoned to her, trying to hurry her on as long white sleeves flapped.

"Come, come on Kagome, I want to you to see. I can teach you, I can show you what you don't know!"

The black-haired girl slowed to a jog, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She couldn't run any more. The air here was think, like fog. It resisted her movement, almost like running through water.

"Kagome…" The voice was sad. "Don't you want to see? Come with me, you will see, you will know. I can help you…"

"Wait!" Kagome gasped, struggling against the thick atmosphere. "Wait! I want to come!" She pushed ahead and ran again. Behind her, she felt reality shatter. "Wait!" If she ran fast enough, she'd escape the blank behind her as it approached with a silent roar. She didn't look back and just kept running for the hands.

"Come, come on, come with me. I can show you, show you all you wish to see. I can tell you, teach you-"

Kagome sat up quickly, her breath coming in strangled gasps, and tossed the covers aside. It was still night. Everything was dark. She strained her eyes and frowned. Even at night, there was usually some light to see by.

It hit her like a ton of bricks. Of course there was no light. She was **blind**, after all. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, the strange dream temporarily forgotten. She was blind, and learning to see again, through her powers. She flopped back down on the futon and stared with unseeing eyes up at the ceiling, the words from her dream echoing through her head as she mulled it over.

"Come, come, come…"

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

AN: So, how's it going so far? Any complaints? Confusion?


	3. Nightmare

AN: Well, more responses! Thanks to all who left a note:

**bright-star-in-the-night**: Thanks! And yup, it's an InuKag, but probably a mild one. (The romantic side to the story's still more than a little vague…)

**rin sama1989**: No problem, I can totally understand how life can get in the way of other things, especially moving. Actually, you've been one of my most diligent reviewers, and for that I'd like to thank you (Grins). But seriously, you've reviewed everything I've ever written and posted and I'm very grateful! As to who's calling Kagome: I'm afraid that if I told, it would ruin the story.

**Dragonlord04**: Thanks! No worries, I **am** writing/working constantly. I'm sorry to keep you waiting; I just don't want to rush it and make it crappy. Every time I do that, the randomest stuff appears that has nothing to do, really, with the story.

**Kyoung**: Thank you! I'm very flattered! (grins) And I promise, I will not forsake you, the reader(s)! That would be very, very cruel of me.

**Tiamath**: Just one thing to say, on my part; thank you! Very, very much.

**The color blue**: Eek! Don't hurt me, please! I'll finish it! I promise! Heh… But really, I **will** finish, because if I didn't, then I'd break my rules, one of them being that I'll finish what I start.

**Shadow15**: Hah! Gotcha hooked! Just kiddin'… But I'm glad that this story is good enough to have pulled you in!

**Ganheim**: You're right; it's not effective story-wise, nor is that correct grammar, I believe. I have noticed that I had a tendency to do that while I was writing, actually, and I agree; it should be changed. Thanks for pointing it out! I sincerely appreciate constructive criticism of my writing. (By the way, bao are those steamed/baked buns that Shippo's always eating –in the manga, at least… haven't seen much of the anime. They're filled with chicken, spinach or pork, depending. I like the pork best, myself. )

In this instance, I don't have an outline on paper, but it's all in my head. Things are often subject to change, however, as I write. In fact, things get switched so much that an outline can become pretty useless. But I know where it's going, if that's what you mean.

**Purely Mistake**: Heh heh… And I always thought that I wrote pretty long chapters! But thank you, I'm very, very, very flattered! I'm glad that it's going well so far!

**w j:** No worries, I'm not stopping any time soon. I've promised myself that if I start something, I will finish it… eventually. But I won't just stop for no reason whatsoever. That would be mean and nasty of me.

**Kumoritora**: Thank you! I'm glad that it's satisfactory; I thought that I might've rushed it a bit; the days passed rather quickly. (I'm confused about the ending too… XD. **That's** not good…)

**FFchick**: Thank you! I've tried picking up the pace a bit, in comparison to Haunted, which has all these other little bits that aren't really important to the story in it. Wow, you're perceptive (in regards to the ghost thing)! Close… but if I gave it away it would ruin the story…

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. But you already knew that, of course.

x

The Mind's Eye

x

Chapter Three: Living Nightmare

x

"Something wrong?" Cloth rustled on the other side of the screen that separated Miroku and Inuyasha from Sango, Kagome and Shippo. "I heard you calling out," Inuyasha explained, his voice gruff with concern.

"…Yeah," Kagome replied eventually. "Just a strange dream, that's all." And in the dream, she could **see**… But what had she been looking at? "I'm fine," she promised. "But thanks for asking." Her slight smile was hidden in the dark.

"Sure," he grumbled. "Now go back to sleep. I wanna leave early in the morning." Sensitive white ears picked up the soft rustle of cloth as Kagome settled back into bed. He sighed and shifted slightly before closing his own eyes, his other senses still on the alert.

Sightless eyes stared up at the ceiling as Kagome thought. The dream had left behind it a disturbing feeling and the vague sense of nightmare. The odd thing was, she couldn't remember a thing of it, but a soft voice echoed in her head. And she was wide awake.

"Come, come with me. I can teach you, show you. Come, Kagome." It was almost as if a voice was whispering faintly, right next to her ear. Irritably, she rubbed her ear and turned around, nearly plowing over Shippo in the process.

Kagome didn't get much sleep that night.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"If you gave me just a few more minutes," Kagome grumbled and buried her head beneath the covers, "I would be very, very grateful." She could feel Shippo hopping from one foot to another impatiently on the bedspread.

"That's it," Inuyasha exclaimed, bad temper evident in his voice as he stepped around the screen. Sango stared at him, askance, as he rolled Kagome over with one foot. "Hey, wake up! Kagome, you lazy-"

"Sit." Kagome outraged protest came out muffled from beneath the various blankets that she hid herself under.

Inuyasha crashed to the floor, growling as he did so. "Kagome! I **told** you last night that we'd be leaving early! Maybe if you'd gone to sleep like I said, you wouldn't be so tired! It's your own fault, so deal with it!"

Sango and Miroku exchanged a surprised glance as Kagome retorted, "It's not like I can fall asleep on command, stupid! And if you had this weird voice whispering stuff in your ear all night, then I'm sure that-"

"Weird voice?" Miroku asked curiously. Inuyasha sat up and pouted mulishly as Kagome pulled the covers away, poking her head out around the screen to explain to Miroku.

Kagome put on her glasses- she now felt decidedly odd and exposed without them- and sat up with a yawn. "I had this weird dream –nightmare, actually- but all I can remember of it is this voice. And even after I woke up, it kept whispering in my ear." She shuddered. "It was really weird."

Miroku frowned and ran a hand through his black hair. "Hm." The others looked at him curiously. "Do you think that it might have something to do with your training?" he pondered.

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. I guess, because it's never happened before now…" she trailed off, clearly confused. She yawned. "Maybe I'm going crazy," she suggested sleepily. She flopped back down behind the screen.

"You've already gone there," Inuyasha grumbled the spell wore off and he sat up. Kagome whirled and glared at him, "So that's why you were calling out last night," he said hastily, not wanting to be Sat again. "You kept saying, 'I'm coming', and 'wait'." He shrugged.

Miroku glanced at the screen again as Kagome stumbled out, Inuyasha pushing her from behind. Purple eyes watched her closely. "It could've been a demon, trying to coerce you… Can you tell me what the voice was telling you?"

Kagome nodded and fumbled with her bag. She pulled out a strange brush-thing that she used to clean her teeth –Miroku thought that the future must be very odd indeed- and some sort of tube. She frowned as she thought. "It was trying to get me to go somewhere… but I don't know where. And it was saying something about being able to help me."

Miroku nodded. "I assume that it's a demon." He stood up and glanced outside. The sun was just clearing the trees. Kagome and Inuyasha were bickering again in the background. Miroku sighed. "Inuyasha, I remember you mentioning that you wanted to leave early today. Why don't we depart?"

"Early?" Inuyasha exclaimed incredulously. "You call this **early**?" Long red sleeves flapped as he pointed furiously out through the open screen to the sun. "If it wasn't for her-" the finger swung around to indicate Kagome, "we'd be long gone!"

Kagome flushed angrily. "We already went over this! If you're so eager to go, then why no leave already?" she demanded. Miroku nodded slightly. Kagome had a good point, there.

"Oh, forget it!" Inuyasha threw up his hands and stomped out of the door, leaving Kagome and the others inside the house.

"Looks like he agrees with you," Shippo commented as the hanyou stood, waiting impatiently by the road. The ginger-haired kitsune scrambled onto Miroku's shoulder and Sango led Kagome out of the building.

(•.•)

( • )--

"A fierce beast, tall and black as night!" The poor man was clearly frightened out of his wits. "We don't know where it came from, only that it was as tall as a tree and it devoured the cattle."

"We'll attend to it," Miroku promised. The villager nodded and thanked him profusely. Miroku signaled the others over. "A demon, possibly utilizing a Shikon Shard," he informed them.

Inuyasha glanced at the sky. The sun was sinking inexorably lower towards the horizon as the sky faded from dusty cornflower blue to a darker velvety twilight. "Then let's finish it quickly." He pulled out Tetsusaiga and slung it casually over his shoulder as he walked into the deserted village.

It was a mess, really. Debris littered the streets and houses were shattered and had collapsed in upon themselves. The silence was almost stifling as the group moved into the ghost village, Kagome kept protectively between Miroku and Sango as the two of them readied their weapons, eyes alert.

"Come on out, demon!" Inuyasha taunted. Something stirred beneath the collapsed walls of a house and the hanyou indicated the spot with his sword, amber eyes narrowing fractionally.

The floorboards rustled and fell away. A dark shape loomed out of the debris, unrecognizable in the dark. Several arms unfolded, clicking as the thing turned its head in Inuyasha's direction. Long fingers flexed as the hanyou asked Kagome, "Is there a Shikon Shard?"

Kagome frowned as she concentrated. "I think so, but whatever it is has a strange… thing around it. I can't tell." She shrugged and turned her head towards Miroku. "Do **you** know what it is?"

Miroku peered closely at the thing. "It's… dead," he said finally. He in turn looked to Inuyasha. "Am I right?" he confirmed and glanced back at the thing as it stood to its full height, numerous joints clicking.

"Yeah, it is." He readied Tetsusaiga and repeated his question. "Kagome, does it have a shard?" He winced slightly as the oily smell of death reached his nose, cloying and rotten.

"I… I don't know," the blind girl stammered. "It's confusing!" She frowned in concentration, fists clenched. "I think so, but I'm not sure. There's something around it…" She sighed in exasperation. It was so much easier when she could **see** it…

"Yes or no?" Inuyasha demanded as an arm came whizzing by his head. He ducked just in time, his sword out to block another appendage.

"I can't tell!" Kagome screamed back with frustration. She gritted her teeth. "I **hate** this!" She so useless…

Sango patted her arm sympathetically and turned to Miroku. "Stay with her, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, she dashed into the fight, calling to Kirara as she did so.

Miroku sighed. "I'm supposed to do that," he complained wryly. He glanced at Kagome. "Describe it." While he knew next to nothing about what Kagome was trying to accomplish, be might be able to help. Speaking of which… "Did Myoga run off again?"

"Probably," Kagome replied absentmindedly as she focused on the demon. "It's… like a stream of something…" she said with difficulty. "I don't know what it is, exactly, but it's like… like something's surrounding it." She shrugged and sighed. "Sorry. I can't explain it, really."

If light bulbs had existed in the Feudal Era, one would've mysteriously appeared above Miroku's head, shining brightly in the darkness, as he snapped his fingers. "I got it!" He grinned triumphantly at Kagome. She turned to him curiously. "How much would you bet that it's Kagura's dead?"

Kagome's grin matched his own. "So that's it!" The smile melted off her face as she concentrated again. "Hey!" she exclaimed, her voice low with excitement. "It's like a strand, and it's coming off the demon's body. She turned her head and pointed. It's going off in that direction…" She shook her head and rubbed her temples.

"Are you alright?" Miroku asked concernedly. He pulled her to the side as Inuyasha went sailing by to land neatly on his feet, his eyes promising murder. He looked back at the blind girl, who was still clutching her head. "What happened?"

Kagome rubbed her temples furiously, her breath coming in rapid gasps from the piercing pain that was boring a proverbial hole in her skull. "I think I might've overdid it…" she gasped and sat down on the ground heavily.

Inuyasha whirled and glared at her. "This is a **fight**, Kagome, not a nice little picnic! Get up and stand!" He rushed at the demon again and cut off one of the arms. "Hah!" Triumph turned to incredulity in seconds as the limb plastered itself back into place. "Yup, the witch's behind this!" he told the two of them before lunging back into the fight.

"Looks like she's keeping to the shadows this time," Miroku noticed. He turned to Kagome, "Where did you say that the thing that you sensed leads again?"

Kagome shook her head gingerly. "I'll try again, but it's really tiring…" She took a deep breath and tried to "see" again. Sightless eyes widened behind dark lenses. Panicky, she babbled to Miroku, "I can't see a thing! It's like it's all gone suddenly!" She gulped. "Supposed I used it all up?"

Miroku shook his head fervently. "As far as I know, it's not possible. Of course, it'll probably take you a long time to recover, but I don't think you can use all your power up."

Kagome sighed in relief. "That's good to know." There was a thundering of splintered wood and a profane exclamation from Inuyasha. "Ouch. **That** didn't sound good. How're we doing?" the black-haired girl asked anxiously.

Concerned purple eyes gazed over the fight with expert experience. "Not too good," he admitted to the blind girl. "Normally the thing would've been dead a while ago. But it keeps reforming itself." The only way to get at it was to get Kagura, and she was nowhere in sight. As far as he knew, the wind witch could be miles away. He didn't know what her range was.

He took a deep breath. "I hate to pressure you into this, Kagome," he said reluctantly, "but we could really use some help. Can you try one more time and look for Kagura?" He watched as Hiraikotsu sliced through an arm for the umpteenth time, only for the severed appendage to fix back into place.

The black-haired girl's chin jutted out stubbornly as she heard Kirara roar, the noise only serving to strengthen her resolve. "I'll try," she promised. Fists clenched tight, she _willed_ the powers to the forefront of her mind. Wearily, she picked out the thread, which lead from the demon and deep into the woods. "Trees," she gasped as her control shattered. She stumbled forward as nausea flooded her systems and disorientation made the world tip and swirl around her.

"Hey, watch it!" Familiar arms grabbed her and she was away in a rush of wind that only worsened the nausea. "What the hell were you doing?" Inuyasha's voice rang out brazenly. "This is a battle! You can't just wander around wherever you want!" He noticed that she wasn't attending. "Are you even **listening** to me?" he demanded.

"Put me down!" Kagome said frantically. "I'm gonna throw up…!" He nearly dropped her with alarm and she stumbled blindly away to throw up.

He looked up at Sango. Kirara whirled above overhead as the demon exterminator threw her boomerang at the demon. The hanyou sighed with frustration. It was futile, but it kept the reanimated corpse occupied. "Sango! Watch Kagome!"

Sango shot him an irritated glance and said to Kirara, "Let's go pick up Kagome." With a growl of acknowledgement, the demon cat complied.

It seemed to Kagome that she'd just regained her balance when she was lifted off again, disoriented as ever. "You could warn me," she told Sango sourly. The other girl just laughed grimly.

"Did Miroku run off like Myoga?" The exterminator quizzed the blind girl as they wheeled and swooped through the air.

Kagome shook her head dizzily as she weakly clung to Sango. She didn't realize that she'd be this exhausted… and her head was still pounding. "He's going after Kagura."

"What?" Sango demanded and hurled Hiraikotsu. The weapon flew true and knocked off the things head. Hopefully, Sango watched as the thing crashed on its side. The head reknit the dead muscle and roared. She sighed with disappointment. "How? We don't have any idea where she is! He was probably just looking for an excuse to run away," she grumbled.

Kagome laughed weakly. "No, I pointed it out to him. And then I got really sick," she added. "Would it be a problem if you flew straighter, Kirara?" she implored.

The demon cat growled and shook her head in the negative. "No, sorry Kagome," Sango explained. "We'll get knocked out of the air." The black-haired girl nodded miserably and sighed. "On the plus side," Sango added, "If Miroku would hurry up we could land soon."

"Well, it was pretty far away, in the trees, I think. I can't see the trees." She rubbed her pounding head with one hand, the other still clinging to Sango for balance.

Something rushed by her head and Kagome flinched. "Why's Miroku dragging his feet?" Inuyasha demanded angrily. "If it was **me**, Kagura would be long gone!" Kagome took a deep breath as they spiraled tightly towards the ground.

"Kagome said that Kagura's somewhere in the trees," Sango reported. She glanced back at the blind girl. "Kagome, you're hurting by ribs," she informed her. Kagome loosened her grip without saying anything; vertigo was still getting to her and it was worse than a rollercoaster, especially since she couldn't see. She almost laughed; she was amazed that she hadn't lost her sunglasses yet.

"Well, he'd better hurry up," Inuyasha complained and went bounding off again with a loud insult about the demon's mother, sword raised above his head as he plummeted.

Sango rolled her eyes. If Inuyasha had any strategy-, which she doubted, being the highly-trained professional that she was- it was to rush in blindly, sword hacking as he made as much noise as possible. And yet somehow, it seemed to work.

Suddenly, the dark thing keeled over, limp and lifeless as it was supposed to be. Inuyasha, unable to stop his descent, went crashing into the corpse, uttering exclamations of outrage as he did so. "-and I bet that Miroku timed that!" he snarled in conclusion. A twig snapped as Miroku emerged from the forest and Inuyasha whirled on him. "Took ya long enough!"

Miroku waved him away, black sleeve flapping. He wiped his face and sighed. "As I suspected, it was Kagura," he told them. Inuyasha glared at him stubbornly. Miroku frowned in return. "It was **Kagura**! She's a hard opponent and you know it,"

"If you used that hole in your hand, it should only take a moment!" Inuyasha protested. Miroku shot him a pointed look. "Wasps?" the hanyou guessed.

Miroku nodded and walked away. "Let's go get some rest, and food." He glanced back at the sun as the last dim orange glow of it started to sink underneath the horizon. Star twinkled overhead.

Sango patted Kirara and dismounted. She frowned. "Kagome? You can get off now," she said uncertainly. The other girl blinked heavily beneath her sunglasses. "Kagome? Are you alright?"

"I've been better," Kagome admitted and stumbled off of the fire cat. With an indignant squawk, her legs folded beneath her and Inuyasha caught her neatly and helped her stand upright. "Thanks."

"And why are **you** so tired?" the hanyou quizzed. Kagome was dead on her feet and didn't respond. Dog ears flicked irritably and Inuyasha glanced at Miroku for an explanation.

The monk grinned nervously. "She… overspent her powers a bit." He backed away, hands up in a placating gesture when Inuyasha glared at him, amber eyes flashing in the night. "I needed to know where Kagura was! We'd probably still be fighting if it wasn't for that."

"And I'm not **tired**, really," Kagome protested. "I feel like I was on a roller coaster for the last hour, and then I took a ride in a car over a really twisty road."

"Stupid," Inuyasha muttered half-heartedly. "You should know better than to tire yourself out like that." He grabbed Kagome's wrist and slung her onto his back.

"Don't do that!" Kagome squeaked. "You're gonna make me throw up!" Inuyasha froze in his tracks, eyes wide. "And if I do, don't blame me."

"Let's find a place to sleep," Miroku said tactfully. With only a bit of grumbling from Inuyasha and a sigh from Sango, they moved out of the desecrated village, leaving shattered timbers jutting up like broken teeth and a stinking demon's corpse in their wake.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Kagome flopped back on the provided futon with a miserable groan. When she described her condition as the after-effects of riding an hour-long roller coaster and then driving down a twisty road, it seemed as if she hadn't been over-exaggerating in the slightest. Her head pounded relentlessly, her stomach was in turmoil and Advil wasn't helping. Their hosts had tactfully provided her with a wooden bucket, just in case something happened.

Wearily, she removed her sunglasses and rubbed her temples. "Are you okay, Kagome?" Sango's concerned voice came from further away than it normally did, providing for the circumstances.

Kagome almost nodded, then realized that doing so wouldn't help her head at all. She smiled tightly and replied instead. "Same as before. Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow." And if she weren't, her head would probably explode with all the pounding that it was doing.

"I hope so," Shippo added sincerely from the other side of the screen. He wasn't going to sleep with her tonight, things being as they were. Miroku added his own sentiments and Inuyasha grumbled something, and then they all fell silent.

But –due to her condition- Kagome couldn't sleep. It was too hot, and the covers were smothering her. She couldn't find a comfortable position. Then, she suddenly noticed that her mouth seemed unbearably dry. She sat up slowly, head throbbing, and felt around for her backpack and the water bottle in it. Kagome crawled out from behind the screen.

Since losing her sight, she'd found that her sense of direction had improved significantly. The black-haired girl sighed unhappily. She'd trade it in a moment for her sight. Her fingers met the rough canvas outside of the big bag and she fumbled with the zipper.

"Can't sleep?" Inuyasha asked, his voice taking on an air of carelessness. Kagome flinched in surprise. His voice came from behind her and cloth rustled as he stood up.

"I'm looking for my water bottle." The sentence suddenly struck her as ridiculous. "I'm **searching** for my water bottle," she corrected.

"Searching or looking, you don't seem to be finding," he muttered softly as to not wake the others. She heard zippers open and close and the crinkling of plastic. "Here." Something cold and plastic was thrust into her hand.

She pulled open the cap and drank. "Thanks," she told the hanyou gratefully as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve. Cloth rustled next to her, but Inuyasha didn't reply. "Is something wrong?" She could feel something on the edge of her awareness, even though she'd completely used up her power for the time being.

"Sh." Inuyasha's reply was tense as he slowly moved in front of her. "There's something outside," he told her softly. She heard the dull scrape of metal on wood as Tetsusaiga was pulled from its sheath.

Something cool was in Kagome's mind, easing the throbbing mugginess with something completely alien to her. It was completely unlike anything that had happened so far, and she gasped in surprise.

White ears twitched and caught the soft sound of pattering feet outside. The noise was oddly muffled and faint, though he could see the shape shining outside the door. He held Tetsusaiga, amber eyes focused on the thing –he supposed it was a demon- that stopped right outside the shoji screen. It was soft and flickering like a candle, but the light was white rather than the gold of fire.

He glanced at Miroku, who was sleeping soundly, unaware of the danger that he was in. Inuyasha grimaced slightly. "Miroku!" He hissed, hoping that it wouldn't provoke the demon. The uncanny white flame lit the creature's silhouette. It was small, about a foot taller than Shippo. He frowned slightly again. Kanna? "Miroku! Get up!" He tried again, this time with more success.

Sleepy purple eyes blinked open slowly and the monk sat up. "Inuyasha? What's going on-" He stopped when Inuyasha hastily motioned him to stay silent. The hanyou indicated the shoji screen. Miroku nodded and stood slowly. Silently, he hurried over to the other two.

"A demon," Inuyasha whispered. "I think. Whatever it is, it's not human." He sighed, but didn't let his guard down. "I don't get it. It's just standing there."

"That is odd," agreed Miroku softly. "Perhaps I should try to talk to it. It might be a lost ghost." He cleared his throat loudly and stepped forward. "Hello, is there any way that we can help you?" he asked in a clear, friendly voice. However, his knuckles were white as he gripped his staff.

There was a soft chuckling from the other side and the strange white light danced as if in merriment. Then the light went out and there was a pattering of feet. The rings on Miroku's staff jangled clamorously as he whirled around, his eyes unable to penetrate the dark after looking at the bright light.

The ringing fell silent as Miroku realized that the demon, ghost, or whatever it was had gone. He sighed, clearly perplexed as he headed back to the futon. "That was odd," he commented with a yawn. He glanced at Inuyasha. "Wake me if it comes back." And then, to all appearances, he fell asleep.

The hanyou glanced at Miroku with irritation in his amber eyes. "Humph." His gaze settled on the girl behind him and frowned. "What're you so happy about?" he demanded grumpily, startled to notice that she wasn't wearing her glasses, even though her eyes were tightly closed.

Kagome sighed with relief. "My headache's gone!" She stood up and stretched, the water bottle still in one hand. "I don't know what happened, but suddenly it just disappeared." She frowned. "Right about when the demon or whatever popped up." Her frown deepened. "And I could sense it, even though I haven't even been able to sense the Shikon Shards."

"What?" Inuyasha hissed. "Why didn't you say anything before now?" He glanced at Miroku and stomped over with little regard to the fact that others were sleeping. He shook the monk roughly. "Hey, Miroku!"

Purple eyes blinked open with surprise, then glimmered with irritation. "What do you want, Inuyasha?" the monk asked with resignation. It hasn't even been five minutes since I told you to let me rest in peace."

"Shut up." Kagome winced slightly at the callous tone that the hanyou adopted. White ears flicked in her direction. "Kagome, tell 'im what happened." Now he had Miroku's attention. The black-haired man looked beyond Inuyasha and at the blind girl as she hastily put on the sunglasses again.

"What is he talking about, Kagome?" Sleep had fled his mind completely, leaving in its wake only curiosity. With a small rueful smile, Miroku considered the possibility that he might not sleep at all.

"I feel fine now." Kagome scratched her head sleepily in perplexity. "After the demon appeared, I was just fine-"

"And while she can't see anything else, Kagome could see it!" No one could mistake Inuyasha's voice for whispering now. Shippo started to stir and Miroku signaled for the hanyou too keep his voice down. Grudgingly, Inuyasha complied. "I was thinking that if Kagome could see this thing even when she's so drained, then it must be really powerful," he concluded.

Miroku blinked at him. "Your point?" He glanced at the screen at the sound of rustling cloth; Sango was waking up.

"My point?" Inuyasha's voice was only barely contained at a whisper. "My **point** is that there's a powerful demon running around and watching us, and I want to know why!"

"Where's the demon?" Sango was on her feet, yawning and casting about for the demon in question. She sat back down with another yawn, blinking heavily. "What kind of joke are you-"

"There was a demon here," Kagome intervened hastily, fumbling her way back to the futon. Sango didn't like to be woken up and was typically not very friendly in the morning.

Sango sat up crossly. "And no one bothered to wake me up?" she demanded. She yawned again. "Well, where'd it go? Or did you kill it while I was sleeping, too?" Brown eyes flashed with irritation in the dark.

"No, it just stood outside of the door and laughed at us before it ran away." Kagome shrugged. "But it made me feel better," she added.

"You're so simple," Inuyasha put it grouchily. "Don't you care how or why it did it?" He was still unnerved by the demon's appearance. The way it just stood there, a dark small silhouette with that flickering white light. Something about it was so foreign, so alien, somehow **wrong**… Perhaps it was the thing's inexplicable behavior. It didn't attack them, it didn't speak. It just stood there, out of sight and yet at the same time, right there, just out of their reach.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he wasn't aware of the conversation around him until Miroku tapped his lightly on the head with faint jingling from his staff. Startled gold eyes swept the room in surprise.

"I **said**, Inuyasha, that I don't think that it was a demon." Miroku looked back to Kagome. "You said that you could sense the presence." The blind girl nodded in the affirmative. "Did it feel like a demon?"

"Not at all," Kagome admitted with surprise. "Huh." She yawned heavily. "Could it be a ghost, or something?"

Miroku nodded. "That's what I think. First of all, a demon would probably attack us. Second, it looked like a child, which makes it more likely to be a ghost. Third, it disappeared without a trace and made almost no sound. Fourth, ghosts do strange things. I'm sure one could heal a headache."

There was a pause. Shippo turned over on Sango's futon, murmuring unhappily about the lack of warmth. "Well, I wanna go back to sleep," Kagome said with a yawn. She felt her way over to her futon and flopped down on it.

"I second that," Miroku added. He glanced at Inuyasha, who was a blob of white hair in the dark. "And this time I mean it; don't wake me up!" he reminded the hanyou crossly.

Inuyasha shrugged noncommittally as the others returned to their respective futons. In a few minutes, they'd all settled down, Inuyasha resting against the wall and unable to sleep. Only because of his exceptional sight did he notice the crack in the shoji screen, as if someone was peeking through at them. Stealthily, he stood up and walked up to the screen. Cautiously, he slid it open with the rough sound of wood against wood and poked his head out of the room.

White ears twitched and picked up the soft sound of pattering footsteps. Determinedly, he rushed out of the room, making sure to stay quiet. The footsteps got louder as he got closer to his quarry and amber eyes picked up that same flickering white light ahead of him. He dashed around the corner, certain that he'd see the ghost-

and stopped in confusion. There was no one there. He walked ahead, ears pricked and eyes wary. Subconsciously, he found his hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt. Amber eyes widened in surprise. There, at the end of the hallway, was a swirling black… thing, but he'd seen something like it before…

It all came back in a rush; the black pearl and his father's grave. This was another portal. Without stopping to think, he reached into the closing portal and yelped as purifying powers washed over his skin. He pulled back with a hiss and examined his hand. "Shit." It was almost like a severe sunburn; raw and throbbing. A deep ache spread through his hand and resonated deeply in his bones. Inuyasha winced and gritted his teeth.

He watched helplessly as the thing shrank and faded, then finally collapsed in upon itself with a small flash of light. He blinked and stepped back, completely bewildered as his hand throbbed painfully. "What on earth…" the hanyou blinked again and peered intently through the darkness. Was it just his imagination, or had there been something there?

(•.•)

( • )--

The morning after, it was no surprise when everyone woke up more than a little later than usual. But after everyone was awake, things went pretty normally; Miroku paid his respects to the headmen whose house they were staying in, and then they were on the road and chasing another rumor.

Shippo surveyed the dusty path ahead with shining green eyes from his vantage point on Miroku's shoulder. He was the only one who was properly awake at the moment. He tugged on the monk's ear excitedly. "Hey! There's a guy in the road!"

Purple eyes were suddenly alert. "Where, Shippo?" Sango slung Hiraikotsu from her shoulder and Inuyasha's clawed hand settled on Tetsusaiga's hilt. Miroku's staff clanged as he stepped forward purposefully.

Shippo leaned forward and squinted. "Up ahead, on the road. Pretty far up." Miroku took his word for it; his eyesight wasn't the best when it came to seeing long distances.

Kagome stopped abruptly, surprise flashing across her expression. "It's Kagura again!" Her brow furrowed as she focused. It was almost as if the day before had never happened; she was as if she'd never overdone it the day before.

"What?" Inuyasha turned, equally surprised. He frowned suspiciously at her and forgot about whoever it was in the road. "Hey, I thought you were to worn out to do anything."

Kagome shrugged, then nodded. "I was, but after the ghost or whatever showed up, I've been fine." She frowned and concentrated on the road again. "It's faint, but the same as yesterday. There's… that stuff around him, and it leads away-" she broke off and shook her head.

"Where?" Sango gripped Hiraikotsu tightly. Perhaps they could settle this quickly, and get on their way. But then again, the rumors that they were chasing were probably tied into the wind witch somehow.

"Mm." Kagome shook her head. "I don't wanna overdo it again. But when we get closer. It was somewhere around there," she pointed.

"More forest," Miroku acknowledged with a sigh. "Well, we might as well go down there and see what's there." He glanced at Inuyasha, and realized that he wasn't attending. "Inuyasha?"

"Kagome," the hanyou began incredulously. "Didn't you think about mentioning this **before** now?"

The blind girl shrugged. "I hadn't tried before now," she explained. "I didn't know before. But anyway, let's get going so we-"

Inuyasha cut her off and –after a few insults were exchanged- explained what he'd seen last night. "Give me your hands," Miroku instructed. With a bit of half-hearted grumbling, the hanyou complied. Miroku frowned. "It almost looks as if they were boiled in a pot of water."

"And how would you know?" Inuyasha cocked a curious eyebrow at him.

"Never mind that," Miroku said quickly. He looked down at the hanyou's hands again and frowned. "Shouldn't these be healed by now?" He poked at a raw spot.

"Ow!" Inuyasha withdrew his hand hastily. "Don't **do** that!" he protested angrily. "And yes, they should be gone by now." He frowned. "That, I don't understand." He looked up ahead. "But we can deal with this later."

The group walked ahead again with an air of wary purpose. Sango kept glanced at the trees on either side of the road, eyes narrowed slightly and white knuckles gripping Hiraikotsu tightly. Miroku kept his eyes straight ahead as if nothing was wrong, while Inuyasha's hand never strayed from the hilt of his sword. Kagome twitched at every sound, the strain of being unable to see making her bite her lip nervously.

White ears twitched as the caught the rasping sound of labored breathing. The already-dead man struggled to his feet, blood dripping from a gaping wound across his chest to wet the dusty ground, and nearly keeled over again.

The group waited impassively for the puppet to give its message. The thing choked for a moment, dull eyes rolling, and finally mumbled, "Village killed. Monster with a spider on its back. No one left…" He collapsed to the ground, foam spreading from the wound.

Grimly, Inuyasha trotted off, Miroku following closely behind, staff jangling clamorously. "Sango, watch Kagome!" the hanyou called behind him.

Kirara grew, Sango and Kagome mounting up onto the fire cat's back. Sango took a deep breath, knowing that whatever they would see next would not be pretty in the least.

The fire cat growled slightly and circled up into the bright cornflower blue of the midday sky. Scarlet eyes bright with intelligence scanned the tapestry of forest and farm as the path below became merely a dusty brown ribbon beneath them.

"There." Sharp brown eyes narrowed and Sango pulled her boomerang from over her shoulder. "What **is** that thing...?" she wondered aloud, eyebrows raised in bemused disgust. The thing was large and covered it what looked like people's …skins. It didn't seem to be moving at the moment. She shuddered slightly. It was the most disturbing and nightmarish thing that Naraku had come up with, as far as Sango was concerned.

Behind her, Kagome cringed slightly as Kirara circled lower and came into Sango's throwing range. "What is it?" Sango started, then remembered that Kagome couldn't see it.

"You don't wanna know," the exterminator replied flatly. She tensed, Hiraikotsu held out slightly. With a small grunt of effort, she hurled the formidable weapon towards the… thing. She winced as it tore through the decaying human flesh. The boomerang whizzed back up at her and she barely managed to catch it. "I'm going to have to clean this off really well tonight," she told Kirara. With disgust, she wiped a splattered drop of old blood off of her face and shuddered.

"Sango?" Kagome's voice was a squeak. "Is this… blood?" The demon exterminator turned as Kagome gingerly wiped a splat off of her face with trembling fingers.

"It is." Sango glanced at Hiraikotsu again. She winced; there was a bit of skin on it. She looked down again as Kirara circled. "Where **are** those two?" She sighed impatiently. Nowhere in sight. With grim determination in her brown eyes, she told Kirara, "Let's get a little closer."

From appearances –Sango winced again at the skins- the thing had slaughtered the entire village- about seventy people. They had to get rid of it before the thing slaughtered any more people, with or without Inuyasha and Miroku. Though, she didn't know why they hadn't arrived yet…

Gingerly, she swung Hiraikotsu in a wide arc, splattering them with little drops from the weapon. With anger and disgust to fuel her throw, Sango hurled the weapon down at the demon again. It stirred this time as the boomerang sliced through the center, rending it in two pieces.

One of the faces turned up to look at her with eyeless sockets. A wide, floppy grin broke out upon the dead flesh, greasy black hair falling into the face. The thing surged back together and then upright, the face leered up at them as it stretched and grew, like a snake striking at its prey.

"Wha-?" Sango whipped out her katana, her reflexes taking over her shocked body. The head fell back like putty and surged forward again, a misshapen frown gracing the putty-like features this time.

Kirara backed away until they were a good sixty feet above the ground. The thing's neck wove back and forth as it stared. Sango shuddered as bile rose in her throat. The thing was just… disgusting. "Where are Inuyasha and Miroku?"

"And what's that **smell**?" Kagome had grimly decided to ignore the fact that she was splattered in blood. "Sango, what is it that we're fighting?" the blind girl demanded. "If I could see, then I'd know anyway," she added bitterly.

As Kirara wheeled about in the air, Sango suddenly realized that she was doing a real disservice by keeping her in the dark. All she'd been trying to do was keep her from panicking. "I have no idea," she admitted. "Whatever it is, it's hidden itself beneath the villager's… skins." She frowned. No, that wasn't right…

"Gods…" Kagome murmured, her expression unreadable behind her sunglasses. "Maybe I should try to sense it." She was mentally exhausted, but it would probably be worth it, especially with Inuyasha and Miroku mysteriously missing.

"Good idea," Sango approved. "I was just thinking… it's probably not a demon hidden beneath the skins. I cut them in half, and it just formed back together." Just like… there was something else like it.

Kagome frowned as Kirara plunged down again, fangs bared and magenta eyes shining with ferocity. Sango whipped Hiraikotsu and ignored the blood splattered across its bone surface.

The snake-like neck of the flesh-creature whipped around, loose pieces of skin flapping as it turned to stare. The neck stretched again and whipped by them, missing Kirara by a merely a foot. Sango watched in surprise as the thing continued to rise up.

She only realized when it was too late what was happening.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"What a surprise," Kagura drawled from her vantage point on her feather. Breezes whipped Inuyasha's hair around as he glared at her belligerently. He pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath as Miroku came dashing up behind him, gasping for breath.

"Inuyasha, you have to stop running off like that-" he straightened and looked at Kagura. "Oh. Kagura," he said simply.

The wind witch snickered. "Oh. Monk," she mocked. "Getting left in the dust are we?" Scarlet eyes danced with wicked humor. She glanced at a scowling Inuyasha. "But I'm sure you aren't here to listen to my jokes." She glanced pointedly to her left.

With a final glance at the wind witch, Inuyasha turned to face the forest. Miroku's staff jangled as he did the same, purple eyes narrowing. "There's something there, Inuyasha!" the monk confirmed.

Kagura snorted. "Obviously," she muttered. With just one backward glance at the thing lurking in the woods, a gust of wind overcame the feather and she swooped away.

A twig snapped as the thing shifted. Amber eyes narrowed. "If you're gonna fight, just come out already!" he bellowed impatiently into the woods, Tetsusaiga held firmly in position. "We don't have all day!"

Something shadowy shifted again, but the hanyou couldn't quite see it. The forest was too dark, even for him. A wave of cold billowed out from the forest. With it came a powdery dry smell, like stone.

Inuyasha snorted impatiently. "Well, have it your way!" he snarled and charged recklessly into the forest, feet pounding on packed frozen earth and Tetsusaiga raised high.

"Wait, Inuyasha!" Miroku yelled in exasperation. "What are you **doing**? You don't even know what it **is**, and-" He stopped abruptly and stared in horror as the hanyou off of his person and hurled them at the darkness. They sizzled where they struck, but didn't light up the dark area. Instead, the parchment burned away the dark as if it was acid.

The nebulous patch of darkness retreated, yowling a silent scream that Miroku could feel through his bones. He covered his ears and bent forward, grimacing. His staff fell with a clang onto the ground and the howl died down.

Inuyasha staggered out of the innards of the dark area, cursing blackly and rubbing his eyes as his ears twitched. "-shit! That- that- damnit!" the hanyou howled. "You are dead!" He rushed forward again, murder flashing in his eyes. "I don't know what the hell you are," he told the darkness as he hacked at it to no avail, "but you're dead! I won't forgive you for messing with me like that!"

The blackness surged up and swirled smokily. Tendrils of it came away from the main mass and rushed at the furious demi-demon. Inuyasha swung Tetsusaiga in a wide arc, slicing at the wisps. They came away from the mass, swirling and moaning unhappily.

Miroku watched carefully as Inuyasha cut out more little wisps. All of them did the same thing; they wailed and floated away before puffing out of existence as they hit the sunlight. Realization dawned in his purple eyes. "Inuyasha! Stop!" he yelled desperately. "You're not going to do anything!" He whipped out two spells from his sleeve and hastily began to mumble spells under his breath.

"It's better than just standing there!" the hanyou retorted and brought Tetsusaiga down on another wisp. The thing wailed piercingly as it sailed by his ear and he clapped a hand over the sensitive organ with a yelp.

The nebulous black thing took advantage of the demi-demon's temporary setback and surged forward, smoky tendrils shooting towards him and surrounding him.

With a wordless shout, Miroku ran forward, his half-prepared spells in one hand. With one last word said upon the two spells, he hurled them forward and hoped that it would work.

The parchment glowed as it rocketed forward and burned away at the darkness. That same silent scream rent the air and Miroku pitched forward again, his only comfort being that it must be much worse for Inuyasha.

The spells penetrated the darkness and burnt it away, a flurry of little black wisps wailing mournfully as they disappeared. The parchment slapped stickily onto the center and the scream rose to a agonized howl before halting abruptly.

Slowly, his very bones aching from that final howl, Miroku stood up. The hazy black smoke cleared, revealing a weary-looking Inuyasha as he pulled his foot out of a pile of sticky-looking black jelly.

Inuyasha glared at it in distaste and poked at it with his sword. "What the hell is that?"

Miroku sighed heavily. "Good question."

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

AN: So, I know that was more than a **little** grisly –it made me squirm as I wrote it- and I'm sorry about if I've disgusted anyone terribly. I actually raised the rating because of it.

Anyway, how am I doing:

Everything up to par? Anything not? Did I fix my "intensely annoying habit" (I would like to sincerely apologize for doing it in the first place, I **do** know better, I swear! And again, thanks to Ganheim for pointing it out) of messing with the subject and not changing the paragraphs at the right time? (I made a conscious effort not to do it, but if it's still not good, then please tell me!)

Much obliged, and thanks for reading!


	4. Coming to Terms

SORRY EVERYBODY! Thanks to wj for telling me about a crucial typo! So, no, I haven't updated **again**, I'm simply fixing it… Sorry everybody!

AN: I was writing these when I suddenly realized that I'd missed some past responses. If I missed you before or if I'm missing you now, I'm really, really sorry! I didn't mean/don't mean to do so, and I feel horrible…

Responses:

**the color blue**: I'll keep the amount of time fights take up in mind while I write. As to why it's always the headman's house, I think that it's because of Miroku's incredible con artist abilities. I'm not being lazy and not updating; I'm paying each story that I'm working on equal attention. Of sixty pages I write each cycle, twenty of them are devoted to this story, and it takes a while to write that much.

**OxAshiteruxO**: Honestly, I think that that creature was the most disgusting thing I could've put it. I've been hard-pressed to think of anything worse, actually… Yay! Someone likes the bunnies! XD

**rin sama1989**: Wow! I think that you're the first person who's really enjoyed the way I described the skin monster… I'm glad that you like it!

**Tiamath**: Ghost or transcended being? Not tellin'! It would ruin the story, though I'll admit that you're really perceptive… I'm glad that I didn't overdo it with the skin monster thing. I thought I was getting pretty close, though.

**Ganheim**: Yeah… for the spacing and typos, the spelling and grammar component of Microsoft Word can only do so much. I'm partly to blame for that one. I also blame QuickEdit for being weird, in that regard. (As you say QuickEdit is more of a hindrance than a help: it's killed my bunnies that I use as spacers.) I'm actually not completely sure if Shippo's eating bao- I always find them at Chinese restaurants, but I'm pretty sure that they're eaten in Japan, too. (They were the closest things that I could find)

**bright-star-in-the-night**: Thanks! (Referring to the "interesting" comment there, not the grisly.) Sorry if you found it a bit much…

**Kumorita**: I know what you mean! Baaaaad mental image… And actually, my endings are in a state of flux; I know what the resolution will be, but leading up to it is very vague.

**NewSalemWitch**: Yeah, it was a bit gory… And I'll keep that in mind, about me overdoing the missing thing. (Terrible grammar…) Thanks for pointing it out! I'm glad that you liked the other chapter, too. (My favorite in this story so far…)

**wj**: No problem (about the update)! It's fun to write… heh heh. Thank you!

**Purely Mistake**: While telling you about the monsters would ruin the story, I can tell you this about Kagome: no, she won't rest much! (Poor girl… I'll hafta give her a break at some point…) Thank you very much! It's very kind of you to say all that you did. (And yes, your incredibly generous and flattering review went straight to my head. He he)

**agent-doo**: That is a very good question. And honestly, I have no idea what the answer would be… But I have to admit, not knowing can really drive you up the wall. The imagination always seems to exaggerate things… (like birthday presents and stuff. You get really really excited…) So for Kagome it could definitely be worse to not be seeing it.

**Kathryn Angelle**: Hehe, Inuyasha can be pretty dense sometimes, though it seems to me that he can also be brilliant. (i.e. The first encounter with Kagura, when he uses Kagome's arrow to slice through her power and Kaze no Kizu's the heck out of 'er. Wow I'm a nerd….) Thanks for the tip! I see what you mean; looking back, no one seems to really react to Kagome much, though I think that such a disaster would have a very large impact.

**InuKagluver91**: Thanks! I've actually got a system going on the updates; a chapter of one story, then the next, then the next, then back to the first one again. Of course, it's not a strict schedule, but I don't wanna drop anything.

**NewSalemWitch**: It's alright, really! Life can throw the oddest and most stressful things at you, and at any time. Really, I'm thankful that you review in the first place. Good luck on the schoolwork!

Disclaimer: Inuyasha does not belong to me.

x

The Mind's Eye

x

Chapter Four: Coming to Terms

x

"So, you don't have any idea either, then," Inuyasha hazarded with amber glance at the monk. He wiped his foot off on the ground. "This stuff is disgusting."

Gingerly, Miroku crouched down next to the pile of jelly and poked at it with the end of his staff. It hissed and melted away as it met the blessed wood, revealing a wooden figure in the middle. "A **golem**?" Purple eyes widened incredulously. "I've never seen anything like this." They were all familiar with Naraku's golems; images of himself, typically used as distractions or to carry messages. Golems didn't have demonic auras; this one did. When dissolved, they became piled of dirt. This one gave off little things that screamed.

Carefully, Miroku reached for the little wooden doll and picked it up. He smiled grimly. Even the wood that it was made of was different; this one was dark and smooth; "Obsidian," he murmured.

"What was that?" A white ear twitched in his direction and a clawed hand went up to rub it; Inuyasha's ears were still ringing from that final scream.

"It's obsidian," Miroku repeated louder. "This kind of stone is usually used for spells to trap or contain spiritual essences and ghosts-" he stopped abruptly, comprehension dawning in his eyes. "It was a sort of golem, but instead of dirt, he used tortured souls." The black-haired monk dropped the wooden doll hastily. Even the doll was sculpted differently, and better; it was twisted, and precisely carved kanji spiraled down the body. The eyes were wide and sunken, the gaping hole that served as a mouth yawned in a silent, agonized scream.

"That bastard," Inuyasha spat. "Always coming up with new tricks for us." Silently, he wondered how many people had died to create the thing. Savagely, he brought Tetsusaiga down onto the figure.

"Inuyasha, don't! You'll-" Miroku didn't have time to finish; a silent explosion ripped a dizzyingly dark hole in the air. Inuyasha and Miroku staggered back. "Idiot!" the monk choked. "Look what you did! I told you not to do it."

"What is it?" Amber eyes were wary, Tetsusaiga held out to ward off anything that might emerge.

"I… **think**," Miroku began, incredulous," that you might have just opened a portal to afterlife." Purple eyes regarded the frayed edges of the rip; the space was starting to close up. "'New tricks', indeed."

"But where," Inuyasha queried, amber eyes unreadable, "did Naraku **learn** this new trick?"

"And where are Sango and Kagome?" Miroku and Inuyasha exchanged a glance.

One word vehement from Inuyasha said it all; "Shit." The two of them dashed off, leaving the shrinking portal behind them.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Shit." Sango watched with horror as the long pillar of dead flesh circled around them. They were trapped. Desperately, she hurled Hiraikotsu at the barrier of skin. On any other creature, they would've been free. But this… this thing stuck itself back together as quickly as Hiraikotsu hewed it apart, instantly mending the skin that the giant boomerang severed.

"Sango?" Kagome's voice was slightly panicky. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself. "What's happening?"

"We're surrounded-" she broke off as the trap cinched shut after them. Waves of stench rolled off of the rotting flesh and over the three of them, causing both Kagome and Sango to gag.

To Kagome, the whole thing was a cacophonous, panicked blur. All she knew was that something had suddenly come from nowhere and turned everything upside down. Something putrid and soft brushed her arm- dead human skin. Her mind was a roaring horrified blank, and she recoiled in disgust. Something spun through her perceptions, and for a brief moment she could see again in perfect detail, out towards the very horizon, even, and then the thing around her fell away, and she was again rendered sightless.

Sango was silent for a moment. She blinked in shock. Just a moment ago, the thing was about to kill her, and then it dissolved into powdery dust in a bright flash of pink light that Kagome from Kagome's outstretched hands. She glanced at the black-haired girl behind her. "Kagome, it's all right. You killed it."

"Thank goodness." She let out a sigh of relief, and shuddered. "It… **touched** me. It was so gross!" She rubbed at her arm with one hand as if to scrub off the sensation.

"Kirara, let's go down." The demon exterminator's sharp eyes caught sight of something on the ground. The fire cat obeyed and Sango helped Kagome off her back before investigating what she'd seen. She stepped over scrap of skin with a grimace and crouched next to it. "A golem?"

Kagome wandered over to Sango with help from Kirara, wincing when she stepped on something soft and squishy. "What is it?"

"It's a golem, but… different." Brown eyes stared incredulously. The demon exterminator glanced quickly at Kagome. The other girl had a frustrated expression on her face. "Sorry. It's just hard to explain."

"No…" the blind girl replied jerkily, fingers twiddling nervously. "It's not you –it's …frustrating, not being able to see it myself. Having to be told." She pursed her lips. "I'm such a burden, aren't I?" Her smile was bitter. "Having to tell me every little thing, having to help me go everywhere…"

Sango frowned worriedly, her hand paused just above the doll. This wasn't like Kagome at all. She always appeared to be so calm and confident, never stopping to question herself or her actions. With all that had been going on recently, the demon exterminator hadn't fully realized how this accident had torn down not only Kagome's confidence, but also her sense of self. And there was nothing she could say to that. "Kagome… we're your friends, remember? We help each other out. You've done it for me, and for everyone else. Now it's our turn to help you." Sango turned away, blushing slightly in embarrassment. She didn't like making those sorts of speeches.

Kagome knew it, and she smiled slightly. "Thanks, Sango."

The older girl cleared her throat. "No problem. It's the truth, you know." She picked up the doll carefully. "Hm. This isn't much like a golem…" She ran her thumb over the smooth surface of the doll. Brown eyes widened in surprise and horror, and she dropped the thing and scrambled away.

"What's wrong? Is it still moving?" Kagome backed away slightly, one hand on Kirara, who had assumed the role of "guide dog" for the time being.

"It's made of bone," Sango explained, voice soft and thoughtful as she traced the kanji engraved on the bleached smooth surface with one finger. "Caught me by surprise, that's all." She shuddered slightly. The doll somehow felt –and looked- wrong. For starters, it was made of bone. It was far smaller than Naraku's usual golem dolls and much better crafted. The body was twisted, the eyes were the wide and sunken ones of a skull, the mouth long and grinning. Ribs were intricately carved into the figure at intervals, as if the crude skeleton was shedding its skin. Sango dropped it with distaste and turned to Kagome.

"We should get going and look for Inuyasha and Miroku-" she broke off as said pair dashed down the road. "Well, speak of the devil."

"No need to, we already saw him," Miroku gasped. "Or rather, it." He straightened and surveyed the battlefield that was once a village. "And what happened here?"

As Sango explained to them what happened, the black-haired monk inspected the bone figure. He picked it up without hesitation once the demon exterminator had finished her story. "I see. He turned the tiny thing over in his hands. "This figure is almost identical to the one that we found, but it's made of bone rather than cherry wood, and the carving is slightly different." He dropped the figure and stood up, dusting his hands in a business-like manner. "I'd bet anything that it was the same sort of spell."

"Monks don't bet," Inuyasha reminded him. "But I agree; it stinks of the same plan, and Naraku's behind it." He covered his nose and glanced at the shattered houses and bits of skin, amber eyes blazing. How many people had died for Naraku's uses? How many innocents had he slaughtered this time?

"We were wondering why you didn't show up," Sango admitted as she gingerly shouldered a bloodstained Hiraikotsu.

"Undoubtedly, he wished to destroy us individually," Miroku agreed. He glanced at Kagome. "Is something wrong, Kagome? You're unusually silent."

The black-haired girl smiled cheerfully. "Oh, I'm fine, just a bit tired, you know?" She pushed the sunglasses up the bridge of her nose and turned away, the false smile fading as quickly as it appeared.

Sango, Miroku and Shippo exchanged an uneasy glance while Inuyasha watched the blind girl, his expression unreadable. Unspoken tension filled the air as the five of them traveled down the road. The only sound was that of their footsteps and the occasional bird.

After about half an hour, Miroku cleared his throat and finally broke the silence. "We should probably stop to eat soon." Purple eyes met amber, conveying a silent message. He glanced at Kagome.

"…Fine," Inuyasha grumbled begrudgingly with his own eyes on the black-haired girl. "There's a bunch of trees over there we could stop at."

"Sounds good." Miroku nodded his approval, and they kept going in silence.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Kagura, what was that?" Naraku's voice was cold and soft, yet holding deadly promise towards the wind witch. Cold, narrowed eyes watched her calculating.

"This time, I can honestly say that I had nothing to do with it." She idly twirled a long white feather in her fingers. "I don't know what happened."

"Oh, really?" His voice was still calm and level as he addressed the wind sorceress. "Well. I might warn you that I am quite disappointed with the outcome of what transpired. If I am ever to suspect that it is you who altered things…" he let the threat hang in the air.

"I'll keep that in mind," Kagura drawled. "I did as you said; lead them, and leave." Scarlet eyes glanced sarcastically into deep red. "But if you don't believe me, I'm sure Kanna can confirm… Would I be right in guessing that you had her watching me the entire time?"

Naraku didn't flinch. "Yes," he replied smoothly, cold eyes on her. "How clever of you." With a slight inclination of his head, Kagura was dismissed.

She smirked at him, scarlet eyes blazing hate and snapped her fan closed as she sauntered out of the room.

Naraku drummed his fingers on the wooden floor. Kagura was becoming quite a problem. He would have to get rid of her sometime soon, if she didn't start to shape up. His mind returned to the problem at hand; who had interfered with his plan, and why? He's seen the separate fights through Kanna's mirror; two golem-like creatures attacked, and nearly won. And yet, they weren't like anything he'd ever seen or heard about. These things were much more sophisticated than the wooden doll and dirt constructions that he made.

But in all honestly, Naraku didn't care too much. If this mysterious other person wanted to harass Inuyasha and his companions, then by all means he or she could do so. It would only aid his plans, as long as **those** weren't interfered with again. Besides, he had much more pressing matters to attend to.

(•.•)

( • )--

It seemed, Shippo noted as he quietly munched on a cracker, that whenever they weren't dashing about and chasing some demon or other, everyone was absolutely silent and twitchy. Wide green eyes glanced at Sango. The demon exterminator was quietly cleaning Hiraikotsu, nose wrinkled slightly in disgust.

On the other side of Kagome's big yellow bag, Miroku was nursing a large bump on his head. In his own futile attempt to "break the silence" –Shippo assumed that he just being himself- the monk had yet again been harassing Sango, and had been justly rewarded for his actions.

Inuyasha sat in a tree, golden eyes level as he stared off into the distance. He was brooding yet again. He didn't do much else in his free time nowadays. Shippo sighed huffily, and decided to take it upon himself to cheer the dispirited hanyou up.

He wandered under the tree where the white-haired dog demon sat and hollered up at him. "Hey, Dog-boy, what's your problem?" When Inuyasha didn't respond, the ginger-haired kitsune pulled out a green leaf. With a puff of smoke, Shippo the Big Pink Bubble floated up through the air until he was level with Inuyasha. Glowering at the hanyou, he demanded again, "What happened to you?"

Inuyasha simply pushed him away, eyebrows lowered slightly in irritation. "Leave me alone, brat. I'm trying to think."

Shippo snickered. "Trying," he echoed. "Not so successful, are you?" He moved out of the way just in time. "Hey! Don't throw stuff at little kids! It's not nice!"

"And neither are you!" Inuyasha snarled. "Get lost, brat! Go bother someone else!" He pulled a sizeable stick from the tree he was sitting on and hurled it at Shippo. Being that he was a large pink, slow bubble, the kitsune didn't have enough time to get away.

"Ow!" Wide eyes glaring, the pink bubble rubbed his head. "I was just trying to cheer you up, gods! You're such a jerk, Inuyasha! You can't even go comfort Kagome when she's sad!" Shippo shut up, eyes wide. He'd just touched. At the look that the hanyou gave him, the kitsune laughed nervously and rushed away.

"That was **not** a good thing to say," Shippo muttered as he hurried away with frequent glances over his back, just to be safe. "He's gonna get me back later…"

Inuyasha gritted his teeth. "Damn **brat**…" he muttered. But he knew that Shippo was right, and that was what irked him. With all the time that they'd spent being busy, none of them had time to think about Kagome's problem. Even at Kaede's village, Kagome had focused on trying to see again while the rest of them rushed about and avoided the issue. Now, it had caught up to them.

He sighed uncomfortably and sat up in the tree. And he owed it to Kagome to be with her. He hopped off from the branch and landed on the ground below with ease. With ears twitched and he sniffed. She was behind a copse of trees. After all, she'd done the same for him.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

It wasn't so bad, Kagome decided. Being blind. Tons of people were blind, and lived perfectly well. She always used to wonder how they did it. How did they walk down a street and know where they were going when all these people were around you? How did you shop and eat at restaurants? Even crossing the street was a leap of faith; cars could hit you, or you could walk into one.

The black-haired girl sighed and fingered the prickly grass she was sitting on. She should probably be home right now. She should be learning how to deal with guide dogs, and walking to school. Her friends. How would they take it?

A lone tear slid down her cheek and despair sat heavily in her stomach. For that one moment when she blasted the skin-creature, she'd been able to see, and for that one moment, she'd been happier than she had been for the last week. Had it only been a week? It felt like years… To have seen like that, to have been aware –because it wasn't really like seeing at all- was what it would be like. And Kagome had realized how far away she was from it. When Kaede said half a year, she hadn't been joking.

A rough, callused thumb wiped the tear off her face, and a disgruntled familiar voice asked hesitantly, "Do you wanna go home?" Hastily, he added, "Just for a few days, I mean. We have a mission, after all."

She could hear the grass bend as he sat down next to her. Kagome smiled. For Inuyasha to even consider offering to let her leave was a first. And she could still feel his thumb on her cheek… "No, I'm okay," she replied quickly. "I probably won't be doing anything at home, anyway."

Her friends would crowd around, offering sympathy and presents. She didn't want to be coddled or pitied; she was still Kagome, nothing had changed that. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it. She didn't want to be reminded any more than she was, but the glasses on her nose and the awkward silence surrounding her. She knew that they were all watching her with concern.

Inuyasha couldn't keep the relief from his voice. "Okay." Reluctantly, he added, "If you're sure." He glanced at the blind girl next him. Her long black hair moved with a slight breeze, and the emerald green grass rustled restlessly.

Kagome nodded. "I'm sure." She swallowed hard. What a wreck… She could almost feel the barriers go up throughout the group as they isolated themselves and their thoughts. And she, the one who'd ultimately brought them together in the first place, was the cause of it.

"Are you just gonna sit here all day?" Inuyasha's voice was rough, but quiet. "We've got things to do, remember."

Kagome's temper flared. "Can't you just give me a few minutes?" she demanded furiously, his kindness of just a few minutes earlier already forgotten. "I just lost my **sight**. I'm even more helpless than before! I can't shoot things, I even need help to find my way home! I can't read or write. I need every little thing explained to me, and I need some time to **adjust**! After all, I'll be **stuck like this for the REST OF MY LIFE**!" She stood up to stomp away, then just laughed resignedly. "I can't even walk away from you when I'm angry…" The bitter laughter broke down to tears, and tears to racking sobs. She sniffed furiously. Great. Now she looked like a charity case, too.

A tentative hand rested on her shoulder as she sniffed unhappily. "…I see." Inuyasha's voice was quiet and contemplative. The warm hand was steady on her shoulder, and surprisingly comforting. "There's no way you can change your situation, right?"

Kagome wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and hiccupped as she listened intently.

"The only thing you can do is accept it. Adjust, and try to overcome your difficulties. Everything will work out in time. Life isn't over." The hanyou's voice was so soft that Kagome almost missed the last words.

She smiled and heaved a shuddering sigh. "Thanks, Inuyasha." Somehow, what he said had helped. He was right; there was still hope, still life beyond today. She'd get through it. "You have no idea how much that helped."

"Oh, I think I do." His voice held that same soft, thoughtful quality to it as the hand lifted from her shoulder. He cleared his throat in a business-like manner. "And besides," the hanyou continued gruffly, a slight flush staining his cheeks, "anyone else would've said the same thing."

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Excuse me…" A brown-haired head poked through the Higurashi's open front door. "Hello? Is anyone home?" Hojo's voice was unsure as it echoed through the house. He paused and shrugged. "I guess not."

"Oh, Hojo!" Mrs. Higurashi came up from behind him, her shoes sounding softly on the grey stonework of the stairs. "Are you looking for Kagome?" Even Hojo noticed that her normally warm and friendly smile was strained.

"I was, but if she's not here…" he trailed off, the package in his hand crinkling slightly as he shifted his grip on the plastic.

The older woman shook her head. "She's not… available right now." She eyed the wrapped gift. "I can give it to her when she's back, if you'd like," she offered with a smile. "I'm sure that she'd appreciate it."

"If it's all right, I'd like to give it to her myself," Hojo replied apologetically. "Can you tell me when she'll be available again?"

Mrs. Higurashi shook her head. "Actually, I can't. But I'll have her call you when she does." She walked up the steps, two large brown grocery bags in hand. Hojo considerately took one for her and she smiled quickly at him.

"Is everything okay?" Genuine concern shone in the boy's dark brown eyes. "Is she sick again?"

Mrs. Higurashi paused, uncertain. Would Kagome be upset if she told everyone? No, they had to know some time, and it was probably best to tell them now, so that when she got back they keep asking questions. Kagome wouldn't like that. Hoping that she wasn't making a mistake, the black-haired woman took a deep breath. "Actually, Hojo, she's… blind."

Hojo blinked at her. "Wh-what?" A small smile curled the corner of his lips, thinking that it was some sort of strange joke.

"She's blind," Mrs. Higurashi explained patiently as she set her groceries down on the table. "She went in to get an eye checkup, and there was a reaction between her eyes and the dilating solution. She lost her sight." Lips pursed, the dark-haired woman fiddled with the bags.

"I-I'm so sorry." Hojo bit his lip. "Is there anything I could do? Really, anything at all…"

Mrs. Higurashi shook her head. "That's kind of you to offer, but Kagome's still not feeling up to visitors right now." She gave Hojo an understanding glance. "The shock of it is still a bit overwhelming."

"When did it… when was the accident?" Plastic wrapping crinkled as Hojo's grip on the gift tightened, knuckles white.

"Saturday." Brown eyes stared hard at the counter. "The doctors are working on a solution. So far, no results. But it takes a while for some tests."

"But it's eye solution!" Hojo shook his head incredulously. "This kind of thing isn't supposed to happen! They should've checked the stuff."

"They did. The solution was fine, the same stuff that's used on millions around the world without any problem. Kagome's used it before, too." She sighed heavily. "We don't know why it suddenly effected her like it did."

"So, in other words, it's a big mystery." Hojo sighed unhappily and glanced at the older woman. "Would you like me to keep it to myself, for family privacy?"

Mrs. Higurashi smiled gratefully. "Thank you, no. I don't fancy telling Kagome's friends. Perhaps it'd be best to hear from you?"

"If you'd like me to," the brown-haired boy replied uncertainly. He glanced at the package in his hand. "Well," he sighed heavily, "I guess I should be going. Please extend my condolences to Kagome."

"Of course, Hojo." She led the schoolboy to the back door and slid it open for him. "She should be back in a few days, I think," she told him absently. "In fact, I'm surprised that she hasn't decided to come home before now," she said, more to herself than to him.

Hojo looked at her curiously. "Whatever you say, Higurashi-san. And thank you for telling me. I hope that they somehow find a cure."

"Thank you, Hojo-kun." She bowed slightly and the brown-haired boy did the same. "Have a nice evening."

"You too." He waved and walked slowly off of the shrine's property, the wrapped parcel sitting heavily in his hand. Kagome was **blind**. And right when he was beginning to suspect that there might be something behind her fake illnesses… undoubtedly it was one of her rare diseases that had affected her eyes and made them sensitive to the solution.

Poor girl. Life was rough for her.

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

The night was cool and clear. A sky ranging from velvety black-blue to cerulean and spangled with bright pinpoints of stars hung overhead as a few clouds crawled across the crescent moon. Painfully oblivious to the spectacular view, Kagome snuggled deeper into her puffy sleeping bag with Shippo sighing quietly in his sleep by her ear.

Thoughtfully, the blind girl fingered the sunglasses between her fingers as a small fire popped and murmured somewhere to her left. Slowly, she drifted off, warm and sleepy.

"Kagomeeee…." The same soft voice of the night before last haunted her dreams through a dark maze of jumbled thoughts and ideas. "Kagome, Kagome, listen to me…" Slowly, the vague beginnings of dreams that swirled through her semi-conscious mind settled. "I have so much to show you," the soft voice sighed.

Suddenly, small white hands appeared from nowhere and grabbed her. They let go, and she was standing on a broad flat plane. Everything was vague and misty, as if just beyond her reach. She backed away, brown eyes wide. "This isn't a dream, is it?" she asked slowly.

"No, no." She couldn't pinpoint that voice; it was all around her, echoing through her mind. "This is not a dream at all."

Kagome rubbed her eyes frustratedly. She still couldn't see well. It was as if she **could** see, but she couldn't understand. Everything was garbled and blurry. "Oh." She dropped her hands limply. She shouldn't be able to see. She was blind. "What do you want?" she asked the entity tiredly.

"I want to help you. You can learn to see again. I can show you, teach you…" the voice was fading, and so were Kagome's surroundings.

"Good riddance," the black-haired girl muttered grumpily. She wasn't inclined in the slightest to listen to someone with the same chilly, soft voice as Kanna. It was probably a demon, anyway.

The blurry images that she couldn't quite see changed and distorted into normal dreams. One moment, she was chasing a clock on wheels down a street made of tree bark, and then she fell down a never-ending cliff and landed on a seagull's giant feathered back. Her strange dreams all remained meaningless and garbled.

But in all of them, she could see.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Purple eyes glanced swiftly around the fire; no one was awake. Furtively, Miroku pulled something gleaming and white from his sleeve. Keeping it cupped in his hands, just in case someone was watching. He flinched when the fire popped and looked up. No one was watching. Gently, he traced the kanji on the side of the thing he held with one hand. The other went up the other sleeve as he carefully watched the others sleep. He slid a long knife from the sleeve and fingered the blade.

"What are you doing, Miroku?" The monk whirled and looked up. Inuyasha was wide awake above him, amber eyes glinting in the dancing firelight.

"Oh, Inuyasha!" The black-haired monk placed a hand over his heart. "You scared me there." The hayou continued to stare pointedly. "Oh, this?" He indicated his hands without actually revealing the object. "It's… uh, a precious family heirloom." Hastily, he stuffed the other object up his sleeve again.

Amber eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Are you sure? What's with the knife, then?" There was a warning note in his voice. The hanyou dropped from the tree and landed next to the monk. "It doesn't look like a 'family heirloom' to me…"

"Back off!" Miroku hissed, fist clenched tightly around the small object in his hand. "It's mine, and I won't let you have it!"

Inuyasha backed away, surprised. "What are you talking about, monk?" He looked at the small object in Miroku's hand. "The **doll**…"

Miroku's purple eyes flickered. "It's mine. I have a mission. You can't stop me." The knife gleamed in the dancing orange firelight. "I have to… have to…" He took a step forward.

Deftly, Inuyasha reached forward and grabbed the monk's wrist. "What the **hell** is wrong with you, Miroku?" he demanded loudly. The knife twisted and flashed. Inuyasha hissed and stepped back, a long, shallow slash on his hand.

On the other side of the fire, Sango sat up quickly. "Miroku?" her voice was shocked. She glanced at Inuyasha, then his hand. The demon exterminator stood up and grabbed Hiraikotsu. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Inuyasha stepped back as Miroku lunged again, eyes gleaming feverishly. "I think he's possessed by the golem!"

"**What** golem?" Sango demanded as she stood up and sidled around the fire.

"The white one, in his hand!" Inuyasha leapt back and landed in a tree. "I think he must've picked it up when we weren't looking!"

"Don't try and stop me!" Miroku shouted deliriously. "I have a mission!" He swung the knife at Sango, who deftly blocked it.

"What mission?" the demon exterminator asked desperately, staring into glassy purple eyes that didn't seem to recognize her.

Miroku's thumb ran up and down the kanji on the bone figure. "…needs a body," he mumbled. Sango noticed that the kanji was glowing, and something else lit in Miroku's usually kind purple eyes. Malevolent innocence shone in blank purple eyes. "I'm hungry. I'm hungry."

The knife flashed out and Sango blocked it yet again. "Miroku, come on!" Brown eyes pleaded with glassy purple. "Wake up!"

A twig cracked behind the black-haired monk. He looked at Sango, confused. "All I want is to not be hungry. I'm so hungry…"

"Guys?" Kagome's voice rang out from the campground. "What's going on? Hello?"

"Kagome! Stay where you are! Miroku's gone berserk!" Inuyasha shouted, eyes still on the black-haired man.

"But there's something out there!" Kagome's voice was slightly panicky. "I don't know what it is, but it's not good! Get back!"

"Oh, we already know what it is," Inuyasha growled. "It's the figure in his hand." He glanced at Sango. "We should try and get it away from him."

The demon exterminator nodded and looked at Miroku. He had a violent reaction to Inuyasha's words. "No! It's mine! You can't have it!" Sango swallowed painfully. This wasn't going to be easy for her.

On the other edge of the clearing, Kagome focused. Calling forth that particular feeling to the forefront of her mind, small things began to light up in her mind. There were the Shikon Shards in her bag. That flicker over there was Tetsusaiga, different from the Shards, but not unpleasant. She shuddered. No, the nauseous feeling came from the doll in Miroku's hand. She could feel it now, tendrils of its power wrapped around him, using him as a puppet. Kagome bit her lip and forced herself to concentrate as things began to fade. There was one string from the doll that led off, far into the distance as if it was tied down to something. "Like Yura's hair…" she murmured. No one else could see it, but she and Kaede could, through their powers. It was a thread like that, invisible to the eye, but not the mind. All she had to do was apply the same principal…

She blinked. It was a lot harder without her eyes, and everything was so faint that she couldn't really "see" it at all. She huffed a sigh, frustrated. "This sucks," she grumbled unhappily. Again, she was useless.

On the other side of the clearing, Inuyasha's golden eyes suddenly widened with surprise. "Kagome! Gimme an arrow!" Her shooting one would certainly be too risky, but if he could hit the doll with one of her arrows, it might purify the thing.

"…If you say so!" Kagome fumbled around with her pack. "Ouch!" Her fingers met the sharp end of an arrow, and she sucked on the punctured one. With the other hand, she waved the arrow around over her head. "Here! You'll hafta come and get it!"

"I'm coming!" Inuyasha leaped over Miroku. "You got him, Sango?" The demon exterminator nodded grimly and she bit her lip as Miroku lunged at her with the knife again. Inuyasha turned again and raced to Kagome's sleeping bag. His nose twitched at the slight tang of blood. "What happened?" he demanded. "I can smell your blood."

"I grabbed the arrow by the pointy end." Kagome shrugged apologetically.

"You're so careless." He ran back to Sango and Miroku, the arrow grasped tightly in one fist. Eyes narrowed with concentration, he waited until the right moment, and struck.

The little bone figure cracked, purple light glowing between the fissures. The cracks spread, and the little doll broke with a tortured howl. With a shout, Miroku dropped the fragments and backed away shock scrawled all over his features. The figure lay smoking on the ground, the little pieces shriveling.

"Miroku, are you alright?" A concerned Sango tentatively touched the monk's arm.

"I'm fine. Are you okay?" Familiar purple eyes watched Sango intently. The demon exterminator nodded. "I'm so sorry," Miroku stared at his hands and shuddered. Wonderingly, he stared at the shriveling fragments of bone on the ground. "I don't know how it did it," he admitted. "I don't even remember picking it up."

Grimly, Inuyasha let the arrow fall from his hand. "Well, I think we know what happened to the villagers," he told the other two. They nodded solemnly.

"Is everyone okay?" Kagome's anxious voice called from the clearing.

"We're fine," Sango replied loudly. She sighed heavily and rubbed her eyes.

"I'm sorry to have caused you distress, Sango." There was true sincerity in Miroku's purple eyes. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Wh-what?" Sango stammered, glad that it was night so that no one noticed her blushing. "I was just yawning because I'm tired. I haven't gotten much sleep." She hurried away to her bedroll.

Miroku sighed, a rueful smile curling the corners of his mouth. He nudged Inuyasha as they entered their campground. "I made her blush. Is that a good or bad sign?"

"Leave me alone," Inuyasha grumbled, rubbing one white ear. "I wanna sleep." He hopped into a tree nearby the others and stretched out.

"I've always wondered, Inuyasha," Miroku continued. "Why does a dog demon sleep in a tree?"

"Being possessed must agree with you, or something," Inuyasha grumbled. "And why do you care, anyway?" One amber eye opened and glared down through the foliage at the monk.

"I was just curious." The monk shrugged and sought refuge underneath another tree. Grimly, he rubbed his palm. The tunnel had widened again…

(•.•)

( • )--

Back at the clearing, the little fragments of bone shriveled into dust around the arrow that Inuyasha dropped. A soft breeze blew, gathering the dust and blowing it away. Some of the powder clung to the arrow, some settled on the forest below. Most of it was airborne and scattered. Two of the three were destroyed.

The third lurked far from sight, clinging to dewy green leaves, riding on the feathered backs of birds as the sun rose. Under its influence, flowers bloomed and grass grew, long leaves reaching towards the rising sun. People rose from their beds, feeling invigorated and bursting with energy. Parents set off to work in fields, small children ran to and fro, whooping with laughter over nothing.

In the nearby forest, a rabbit tugged up a long stem of grass and devoured it, long ears twitching as dark eyes gleamed brightly with vigor. An ear turned and caught a sound. The small animal froze, a grass stem still hanging from its mouth.

The wolf pounced and the rabbit dashed, white tail flashing and eyes wide. All throughout the forest, animals and plants alike struggled for survival with renewed vigor. Nestled deeply within a bush, a small, intricately carved wooden doll hid within the shadows, the kanji inscribed upon its' surface glowing faintly.

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

Returning to her sleeping bag, Kagome sighed and tried not to brood. Inuyasha's remarkable and insightful words from before echoed in her head.

"_The only thing you can do is accept it. Adjust, and try to overcome your difficulties. Everything will work out in time. Life isn't over_."

She knew he was right. Give it some time. There was nothing that she could do to change things, except get over it and learn to move forward. Plenty of people around the world were blind, and now she was one of them. One of her hands found the pair of sunglasses next to her sleeping bag. She fingered them carefully, tracing the bridge of the nose and the lenses. Maybe they weren't so bad after all.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

AN: As usual;

Questions, comments, complaints, conniptions, queries, criticism, ect.?

If so, then go ahead and press the button, or just do if you feel like it!

Thanks for reading!


	5. Twisted Essence

**InuKagluver91**: Teehee! Thank you!

**Summer Whispers**: Thank you, and I'm glad that you enjoyed it! It's very kind of you to review multiple chapters, too; you're absolutely right about it, in regards to the happy warm feeling one gets from feedback. : D

**Ardent-Amber**: Thanks so much! One question, on my part; when you say, "Kinda on the long side" are you referring to the chapter lengths? Or is the story dragging slightly?

**Inu Kaiba**: Thanks! I try (keeping everyone character). I agree, though; While Kagome spends less and less time at home, her true era is still important, because it's a bit part –I think- of who she is, and she's one of the main characters. (I find it hard to really imagine Kagome –who she is, completely- without her big yellow backpack and all its' contents, and all her tests and homework.)

**the color blue**: No problem. I can understand how it might seem as if I was just being lazy and such, because the reader doesn't actually see any work until the thing is posted. Sorry if **I** sounded a bit overbearing and grouchy; rereading what I wrote, it sounds on the verge of being rude, and I didn't mean to be.

Sorry! (to your second comment) I know it took a while, but my rabbit died about a week ago. He was fifteen, so it wasn't unexpected (they usually live to about eight), but still… It took a while to get back up to speed. And if **that** wasn't enough, my internet went on the fritz **again**, and it was down for a while. (Oddly, the other computers were just fine and dandy… but now it's fixed, and all it's all working.)

**Tiamath**: Indeed, Hojo must be one of the most oblivious people on the planet. I think he should get an award… Heh, nothing personal about the responses… Giving away the story would be rather… heartless, I think.

**Kumoritora**: Heh. Plot twists; they're fun to write.

**wj**: Thanks SO MUCH for pointing that out! If you see anything like that in the future, please tell me and I will fix it! (I feel really stupid now for having done that in the first place…) Thanks again!

**Stephanie**: I'm sorry to have confused you! All will be revealed, if you are referring to the third thing, and the fact that there are three of 'em. If you have a particular question, I'll be glad to answer it.

**Darkened Soul1**: Such high praise! I'm really, truly flattered! Thanks so much! I'm glad that it's worked out well. I didn't want to make it all action (because I'm a sucker for fluffiness) and I wanted to stay with the general genre of the original show. (And I'm not too good at writing action sequences.)

**inuyashas hun**: Thank you! I agree; Kagome is very kind and forgiving- most of the time, and it's an awful thing to happen… but things will get better.

Disclaimer: While I wish that I did, I don't own Inuyasha.

x

The Mind's Eye

x

Chapter Five: Twisted Essence

x

"'You remember the fairy stories you were told when you were very small- "once upon a time…" Why do you think they always began like that?'

'Because they weren't true,' Simon said promptly.

Jane said, caught up in the unreality of the high remote place, 'Because perhaps they were true once, but nobody could remember when.'

Great-Uncle Merry turned his head and smiled at her.

'That's right. Once upon a time… a long time ago… things happened once, perhaps, but have been talked about for so long that nobody really knows. And underneath all the bits that people have added, the magic swords and lamps, they're all about one thing- the good hero fighting the giant, or the witch, or the wicked uncle. Good against bad. Good against evil.'"

- Over Sea, Under Stone, Susan Cooper

(Because I thought it was a good quote, and fit with this chapter. )

x

"What… what in the seven hells…?"

Amber eyes widened in shock. The forest before them was more of a jungle than anything else. And it was still growing. In the dense woodlands, birds twittered madly and other animals grunted and squealed. Somewhere in the shadowy depths rabbit screamed, an eerie, thin sound as it died.

"I think we should stand back," Miroku wisely recommended, eyebrows raised at the odd sight. "Who knows what could happen if we step in?"

"Well, I for one don't want to stick around and find out. But just for the record…" Sango shouldered Hiraikotsu and hurled it towards the nearest sapling. The formidable weapon spun through the air towards the tree, and suddenly all noise stopped. It was eerily silent as Sango's boomerang whistled through the air.

Suddenly, vines and branches shot up from the ground in accelerated growth and seized the weapon with leafy grasping fingers. Sango's eyes widened in shock. Suddenly the forest wasn't quite so odd. It was threatening, alien.

"Uh oh." Shippo's tail went bushy with alarm. "I think we should be going now. He tugged on Miroku's ear. "Let's go. I don't like it." The forest was absolutely still, Hiraikotsu suspended

"Neither do I, Shippo." The monk's purple eyes were grim. "This does not bode well." Instinctively, the monk fell into a defensive stance, one hand on the prayer beads around his wrist.

"Well, we hafta get Hiraikotsu back, don't we?" Inuyasha's hand rested on the battered katana on his hip. "I say we destroy the forest."

"Wait…" Kagome's brow was furrowed in concentration. "There's something **in** the forest, controlling it, I think." She bit her lip. It was hard, trying to "see" for so long. "It's in the middle, somewhere. It's got a really weird aura." She sighed and rubbed her temples.

Miroku smiled approvingly at the schoolgirl. "You're getting much better at this new technique, Kagome." The black-haired schoolgirl smiled slightly. The monk turned to Inuyasha. "I'd bet anything that it's another one of those golems."

"Monks don't bet," Inuyasha responded, one hand still on Tetsusaiga as amber eyes stayed focused on the still forest.

"You've told me that before," the purple-eye monk noticed wryly.

"But if they did," added Sango, "I think you'd win this one, Miroku." She paused. "It's almost as if the forest is waiting for us to attack…"

"Well, it won't be waiting for much longer." Inuyasha stepped forward and tugged Tetsusaiga from its scabbard. "Kagome, where's this aura that you sensed?" He brought the sword down and fierce winds sprang from nowhere, swirling and tumbling through the still air in a fierce torrent.

Howling, Inuyasha's attack ripped through the vegetation and sent Sango's boomerang spinning out of the tangle of vines and branches. The large boomerang went spinning off deeper into the forest.

"Great job, Inuyasha," the demon exterminator told him sourly. "Now Hiraikotsu's stuck in the middle of that jungle."

"Hey," argued the hanyou, "I don't see **you** doing anything about it." He turned back to the forest. "And I don't think now's the best time to be worrying about that."

"What is it?" Kagome bit her lip, something she seemed to be doing more often nowadays. Why, of all the senses that she could've lost, did it have to be her sight? If she had a choice, she would've picked taste.

"…Animals," Shippo told her, emerald green eyes wide as he clung to Miroku's shoulder. "A bunch of animals. And they're coming out of the trees, just waiting."

"I'm guessing that they're not very happy." Kagome sighed. This week had been far too busy and stressful for her…

Miroku passed the kitsune over to Kagome. "Shippo, you stay with Kagome and protect her. The rest of us will take care of this."

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Ouch."

A white ear flicked and amber eyes winced slightly. Arms folded across his chest, Inuyasha grumpily addressed Kagome, "I can do it myself, you know." Shadows danced across his lap as the wind sighed, the leaves rustling on the tree that the companions had gathered beneath.

Sango winced slightly as Miroku wound a bandage around her elbow. "That was great shot by the way, Kagome." She slapped Miroku's hand as it traveled farther up her arm. "Hans off, or I'll ask Shippo."

The black-haired girl snorted. "You have no idea where they are. Your back is covered in stickers and thorns." Sensitive fingers caught another sticker and she tossed it to the ground.

"Well, it's not like **you** know either," the hanyou retorted sharply. Shippo winced at the crass comment and Miroku and Sang exchanged exasperated glances.

Kagome flinched and ignored him. "You know, you're lucky they were only thorns, or you'd be punctured everywhere." Her tone was conversational. She'd just been asking for that one, she admitted to herself. And in a way, Inuyasha was helping her learn to accept.

"Your haori is quite a marvel." Tactfully, Miroku steered the conversation in a different direction as he wrapped a linen bandage around Sango's elbow. He held up his own sleeve. The black fabric was peppered with holes and tears where vines and twigs had snagged him.

"Fire rat fur," Inuyasha explained. "Otherwise I'd probably be worse of than you." He eyed Miroku's sleeve skeptically. "What?" He turned when Kagome tapped him on the shoulder.

"Shippo says that you've got cuts on your face." She held out a tube of disinfectant. "Here."

"Well, he's wrong. I don't need it. They're already closed." Amber eyes glanced at the little plastic tube disdainfully before Inuyasha continued to pull out needles from his sleeves.

"That's not true!" The kitsune's tail puffed up indignantly and emerald eyes glared into gold. "You've got that huge on right across your forehead!" A fist quickly silenced the young demon.

"It's healing," the hanyou insisted grumpily. Knowing that an argument would be pointless, Kagome mutely returned the ointment to her bag.

Sango sighed and glanced at the back of her hand. It was getting red already, and itchy. Charging through a forest where the animals and birds, even the very plants were against you was not something she ever wanted to have to do again. It was tough and painful and grueling, and definitely not worth it.

As if he could read her thoughts, Miroku commented, "Next time, I say we take the long way around and leave the hostile, magical forest alone." Purple eyes critically inspected a long shallow gash on his arm. The monk sighed and fell back against the sturdy trunk of the tree he was leaned against.

No one had enough energy to respond to that. Even Inuyasha, with his incredible strength and stamina, was exhausted from their battle. Frankly, Miroku was surprised that they'd made it out with so few injuries. If had only been the animals, or just the plants… but when trees fell over to deliberately squash you and plants erupted from the ground in furious growth to ensnare you, and every single animal was united against you, everything just got that much harder.

It had been clear enough where the golem had been. Kagome had just confirmed the obvious; in the center of the forest, a great clump of vines had grown. They had writhed and lashed out upon the companions' approach, like the tentacles of an octopus. But no octopus that Miroku had ever seen had thorns, nor did their tentacles grow and split, multiplying. And unlike an octopus, the creature stood up on long agile roots, and animals were tangled in the thing's grip as if merged into one. The resulting fight explained everyone's tattered appearances.

Miroku frowned. These golems. They were an enigma of themselves, never mind where Naraku got the spell. He'd never seen anything like them before.

Sango leaned closer despite the inherent danger of being touched in inappropriate places. "Is something wrong?" She glanced at his hand, brown eyes flickering slightly. "Is hour hand alright?"

Miroku shrugged uncomfortably. He hadn't told anyone that it had widened enough for him to notice. "I overused it a bit. And your shoulder?"

Sango winced and rolled her shoulder. "It'll be fine in a few days. I overdid it, too." The dappled shadows of the tree above played across her face as the demon exterminator sat back with a heavy sigh. To be honest, she was absolutely exhausted, and she just wanted to sleep. Maybe, just this once, she could trust Miroku not to behave like a pig…

Sango sighed, eyebrows snapping together. The sharp sound of palm meeting face echoed across the otherwise silent glade. Then again, perhaps not.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"This again?" Irritably, Kagome tapped her foot against the ground. Was there a ground? She couldn't really tell, but she knew that she was standing on **something**.

A voice drifted around her like the soft summer breeze, carrying with it a hint of lavender. Kagome rubbed her nose and sneezed. The smell was powerful, much stronger than when she was awake and clearer than any dream. Any dream, except the one she'd had last night. And the night before. And they just kept getting clearer.

A soft, crooning chuckle echoed through the swirling, foggy depths of her dreaming mind. "Yes. I'm sorry, but I must speak with you. I haven't… haven't…" The words faded off, like Ayumi's cell phone on a bad day. "… closed. You need to…"

Kagome whirled around, brown eyes distrustful. "Who are you?" she demanded. "And where've you taken me?" The thick fog wrapped around her like a tender embrace, as soft and insubstantial as the breath of a sleeping child, yet cold and clammy. Kagome didn't like it, but no matter how much she strained her eyes, she couldn't make out the shapes beyond.

"…no time to explain, you…." The voice dwindled away again and faded away. "…so much you need to learn, so much I must teach…."

"Kagome…!"

The black-haired girl whirled again. "What is going **on**?" The fog rose, surrounding her, choking her with the thick, cloying scent of lavender. "Who are you?" her voice echoed desolately across the emptiness.

"Kagome!"

She recognized that voice. She coughed, the lavender scent making it almost impossible for her to breathe. "Inuyasha!" She rushed through the fog, trying to escape it, stumbling across the empty expanse. "Where are you?"

"KAGOME!"

A hand on her shoulder was shaking her roughly. She gasped and sat up, a hand over her pounding heart, adrenaline pulsing in her veins. She turned her head left, then right. "Inuyasha? Why's it so dark? What's going on?" The last thing she remembered was fighting the golem in the forest, and dropping off. Why was it so dark now?

Her queries were met by awkward silence, and the hand lifted from her shoulder.

"You're blind, Kagome." Sango's voice was soft, remorseful.

"Oh." The vivid images from her dream resounded in her head, as clear as if she'd truly seen them. And then… perhaps she had.

"Are you alright?" Miroku's voice, concerned and curious, came from her left. "You were…" the monk paused. "Well, I'm not sure **what** you were doing," he admitted.

"You were humming and your fingers kept twitching." Shippo's voice by her knee explained the bizarre occurrence, his tone matter-of-fact. "It was really weird, and then you wouldn't wake up and Inuyasha went nuts," the kitsune added smugly. "Ouch!" Inuyasha's fist descended upon his head.

"I was?" Eyebrows raised in surprise, she turned towards the kitsune's voice. "Whaddaya mean, 'humming'?"

Shippo shrugged, one hand over the tender spot on his skull. "You were humming. Like, 'mmmmmmmm'." He demonstrated.

Kagome frowned. "That's weird." What on **earth** was going on?

"Kagome," Miroku asked carefully, purple eyes intense as he watched the schoolgirl, "what did you dream about?"

Kagome shrugged airily. "Oh, you know dreams. They're always really weird." She flipped a stray strand of black hair over her shoulder.

"But what did you dream about? Was it like a normal dream, or was it different?" the monk insisted, purple eyes serious. "You must tell me, Kagome. It could be important."

She sighed. "No, they're not normal dreams," she admitted. "This time, I was surrounded by this really thick fog, and everything was really clear and in focus, like I was there. And this weird voice always talks to me, tells me that she wants to help, and can teach me, and that I should come with her." She twisted her hands in her lap. "It's really weird, actually."

"No kiddin'," Inuyasha snorted. He turned to the black-haired girl, amber eyes glinting with suspicion. "Wait. You said, 'this time.' You've had more than **one** of these dreams, and you didn't think about mentioning it?" He shook his head, silvery hair swishing. "You're an idiot!"

"I didn't think it was that important!" Kagome retorted hotly. "I thought I was just having really weird dreams, at first." There was a flicker of doubt in her voice as she continued. "But then, after the second one…"

"The second one?" Miroku leaned forward curiously, bruises and cuts forgotten.

"Yeah. At first it was a normal dream, and then these **hands** came out of nowhere and brought me somewhere else, and then told me the same thing. The only this was, I could see where I was, but I couldn't really. And it really felt like a different place. It was different from all the others in that way. I was really somewhere else. All the other ones, I've been in my head, I think, and she talks to me."

"She?"

Kagome shrugged. "Creepy little girl. Her voice is like Kanna's. At least, I **think** she's a little girl. She could be an old woman, too. But I've never seen her, only heard her voice. But the hands are small."

"And you never found this worth mentioning." Inuyasha's voice was sarcastic, amber eyes glimmering under lowered brows. "What **would** you feel worth it?"

"But I **did** mention it!" Kagome said defensively. "A few days ago, when we were at that house! I told you that there was this voice whispering in my ear!"

Sango frowned, lost in thought. "I remember. Miroku, you thought it was a demon, correct?" She glanced at the black-haired monk, who nodded in agreement. She continued, musingly: "Do you remember that demon?"

Miroku interjected quickly: "You mean the one that was standing outside of our room a few nights ago?" He frowned. " I thought it was a ghost. It just stood there, watching us, before laughing and running away."

Amber eyes narrowed. "I remember that one. It came back after all of you fell asleep again. I followed it, and there was some sort of portal in the air. It had purifying powers in it, and then it just collapsed."

Miroku glanced at the hanyou, eyebrows raised. "And **you** didn't think to mention this before?"

"Shut it," Inuyasha replied sourly. "I forgot."

Miroku sighed and turned his amethyst gaze to the leaves above as they danced quietly in the breeze. "Well, in any case, it seems that you, Kagome, are being watched very carefully by some sort of entity." He frowned. "And recently we've run into a series of very strange creatures."

"It must be connected, somehow," Sango concluded. "I wonder, though. I know it's a bit of a stretch, but do you think it could possibly be Nozomi, of the legend?"

Miroku shook his head. "The story of Nozomi is perhaps merely a legend. We have no way to be sure. Kagome, is, after all, opening her mind to outside influences by using her powers in such a way." He scratched his head. "In short, this creature could be anything at all."

Inuyasha snorted. "Great."

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Scarlet eyes rolled derisively. "Oh, come now Naraku! You were watching me the whole time! You gave me a single set of instructions; animate a corpse and have it intercept our traveling friends. Then, they would be separated- I wasn't to know how, and then lead the other two to the thing in the woods. I **didn't** have your creature eaten. And how do you think I could've conjured a thing like… like that?"

Naraku sighed slowly, irritated by Kagura's oblivious stupidity. "I am not accusing you of raising such beasts. No, I know for a fact that you are incapable of doing that. I am simply asking you to describe them."

"You saw them yourself, in Kanna's mirror." The wind witch shrugged. "What else is there to tell?"

"What about an aura?" Long pale fingers drummed a tattoo on the tatami mat he was sitting on.

Kagura frowned. "None." She shrugged. "No demonic aura, for either of the things. They **were** golems, remember."

"No, they were not," snapped Naraku in a rare show of emotion. He chuckled at his subordinate's ignorance. "Kagura, have you ever heard of the Essences?"

"No, I can't say that I have." There was an edge to the wind witch's voice.

"No, I didn't think so." Naraku smiled condescendingly. "As I'm sure you're aware, there is a Heaven, a Hell, and in between, this life." Kagura nodded curtly. "The title, "Essence" is self explanatory. These creatures are the essence of each place, but twisted. Hell is a golem made of a baby's bone, and is animated by the skin of the dead. Heaven is made of stone and is fed by tortured souls. **That** is the one that devoured my creature in the woods." He frowned. "Life is made of wood and feeds of the living, controlling their lives and actions for its' own purposes." He paused and glanced at Kagura.

"What is odd, is that they've appeared suddenly out of nowhere. These Essences are essentially the stuff of legend," the demon mused. "They disappeared centuries ago, if they ever existed at all. And suddenly, here they are again." Cold eyes glanced at the wind witch. "I find that strange, don't you?"

"What do I have to do with it?" Kagura sneered, wooden fan tapping against her thigh. She had never been one for Naraku's subtlety, the way he manipulated events and people to make the dice fall as he wished.

"Just keep an eye out." Naraku waved his hand, signaling her to leave. The wind witch turned on her heel and marched out of the room, mouth pursed tightly. Naraku glanced thoughtfully at his collection of urns, their contents bubbling. "Such strange occurrences…"

(•.•)

--( • )--

"No. Absolutely not," Inuyasha replied flatly, arms folded stubbornly across his chest. "In case you've forgotten, Kagome, we happen to be in the middle of something here."

Kagome huffed, fists clenched in pent-up frustration. "But I hafta go home sometime! And it's gotta be soon." The black-haired girl sighed unhappily. "I hafta learn to read and write with Braille, and homework is hard enough to do as it is…." She turned to the hanyou beseechingly. "Please, I just need some time to readjust, okay?"

"And what've you been doing all this time?" he demanded obstinately, white ears flicking with irritation.

"Kagome has a point, though," Miroku added. "Give her some time, Inuyasha. It's only been a week and a half. She's lived with her sight for… fifteen years?" He glanced at Kagome to reaffirm her age. "Fifteen years."

The schoolgirl beamed in the monk's direction as they continued up the dusty path, the road bumpy beneath her tentative feet. "Thank you, Miroku."

He bowed slightly in response, a gracious smile curling the corners of his lips. "Of course."

"Besides," Sango added. "I think we should take some time to think about what's been going on. And Kaede can help us with that. She's knowledgeable in the way of legends and magic."

Inuyasha nodded grudgingly, feet scuffing at the dry road, raising a small cloud of dust. "Fine." He glanced at Kagome. "But **only** five days."

"Five **days**?" Kagome demanded incredulously. "It's gonna take me five **weeks** to learn Braille, at least…" Well, she could study in the past, when she had time, after covering the basics. It might work out. The black-haired girl sighed and wished fervently that it would. She was far enough behind as it was. She stopped and stiffened.

"Shikon shards are coming this way," she alerted the others. Concentrating, she found the aura. "Oh, wait. It's only Kouga." She relaxed.

The wary expression in Miroku's eyes faded and Sango lowered Hiraikotsu with a slight wince. Her shoulders were still sore. Inuyasha, on the other hand, stiffened and whipped out Tetsusaiga, amber eyes belligerent. "Where's that mangy wolf?"

Kagome was opening her mouth to reply when a strong gust of wind nearly bowled her over. A large calloused hand grabbed her own. "Kagome! It's been to long." She could hear the confident grin in the wolf demon's voice.

"Hello, Kouga," she replied politely, gently pulling her hand out of his. "How are you?"

Inuyasha's growl rose in a crescendo as Kouga replied: "I'm great, now that I'm with you. Hey, what's that covering your eyes?" He reached out and grabbed the sunglasses, turning them over in his hands, cerulean eyes bright with curiosity. "What do they do?"

A clawed hand shot out a grabbed the sunglasses from the wolf demon. "Keep your damned nose out, wolf." Amber eyes smoldered challengingly into cerulean. "And go away. You're wasting our time."

Kouga aimed a kick at the hanyou. "I'm not talking to **you**, insolent puppy!" He turned back to Kagome. "I was just-" he stopped abruptly. "Hey, why're you closing your eyes? Is somethin' wrong?"

Inuyasha snorted. "Took ya long enough, stupid. Kagome's blind. Now go away!" Claws shot out and the black-haired wolf demon moved deftly to the side.

"What?" he roared at the demi-demon, fangs bared in a show of true fury. "How could you let this happen? You're always so damn irresponsible!" He turned back to Kagome. "I can't trust her to your care anymore, Inuyasha. I'm taking Kagome with me!"

The black-haired girl stepped forward, hands up in a placating gesture. "Kouga! It's not Inuyasha's fault!" The wolf demon paused. "I was at home and it was just some weird freak accident. There's nothing anyone couldn't done," she explained, her voice dying away. There was nothing anyone could've done.

Kouga paused, cerulean eyes suspicious. "Well, since **you** say so, Kagome…" He turned to Inuyasha again. "I'll leave Kagome in your care for a bit longer, puppy." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Gotta go. See ya, Kagome!" He disappeared in a whirl of dust.

"That… that…" Inuyasha growled, teeth gritted and eyes flashing. "That cocky bastard!"

Miroku rolled his eyes at Sango. "You're one to talk," Shippo piped up, green eyes sarcastic. "You're the one always rushing off into a fight without a second thought!" Inuyasha rewarded the kitsune for this flattering description with a lump on his head.

"You really must learn to control your temper, Inuyasha-sama." A familiar squeaky voice spoke from by the hanyou's ear.

"Well, look who's back." Deftly, Inuyasha reached up and grabbed the little flea with two fingers and squeezed a bit harder than necessary. "After the danger's past, I might add."

"Nonsense!" The flea retorted. "I was gathering information on Nozomi."

The hanyou raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Really? And what do you hafta tell us?"

Myoga shifted uncomfortably. "Not much, I'm afraid. It **is** only a legend, after all. Perhaps there was once truth behind it, but so many years have past and so many have told the story that it's undoubtedly changed from the original truth. And, as far as I know, there are no original written records of her, only the old legend." He sighed. "Nozomi was a six-year-old prodigy, containing vast spiritual powers. Through her powers, she was able to see, but far deeper than any eyes." He paused, then spoke hastily: "I'm not quite sure what that means… but that's what it said. Anyway, she was seven when she just disappeared. No one has any ideas of what could've happened. Just… poof."

Miroku frowned. "I must admit, I find myself uneasy over such an ending. But did her disappearance have to do with her powers, the way she used them, or something else?" Purple eyes glanced at the flea. "There was no sort of insinuation as to what befell the child?"

Myoga shook his head wearily. "Nothing certain. I was told it had to do with a powerful demon, yet the scrolls mention something to do with her powers. I can't be sure. It could even be something entirely different."

Kagome sighed. "So basically, I could be digging my own grave. Well, that's great. Myoga, are you sure that's all there was? Nothing about dreams?"

The little flea frowned. "No. Nothing. Why do you ask?" He hopped from Inuyasha's shoulder to Kagome's. "Have **you** been having strange dreams?"

"Yeah," the black-haired girl admitted. "But I guess it could just be something else." She paused. "It's never happened before, though."

The silence was broken only by the steady footfalls of the group as Myoga processed this information. "Well," he said at last. "I think that the best solution would be to talk to an expert."

"That's why we're heading back to the village," Shippo informed the flea. "Kaede might know something."

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

The elderly priestess shook her head gravely. "Never have I heard of such a thing," she admitted. Wise eyes turned to Kagome. "You must take care, Kagome. I believe that all these sudden, strange events are too much to be a coincidence, but there is nothing to tie all of it together…" She shook her head wearily and changed the subject. "Are you going home to your own time now?"

"Yeah…" Kagome's mouth was a grim line. "I've got **tons** of catching up to do, and then I've gotta learn a new language..." she trailed off, all the things she had to do sitting like a heavy weight in the pit of her stomach.

"But only for five days," Inuyasha reminded her grudgingly, arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the sturdy wall of Kaede's hut, amber eyes glinting in the shadows.

An exasperated sigh escaped Kagome's lips. She needed far more than five days. She needed five **weeks**, or more. But there was no point in arguing; she'd just get delayed. "Five days." A familiar hand gripped her elbow as Inuyasha led her out. "Wait," Kagome told him. "I wanna see if I can get there by myself."

The hanyou snorted. "Good luck." He watched, eyes expressionless, as the schoolgirl shuffled forward, a frown on her face as she concentrated. After a few moments, her steps became more confident as she moved down the path. A small grin twitched on the corners of Inuyasha's mouth, until-

"Whoaaa!" Kagome's foot caught on an uneven part of the path and went tumbling into a bush, spitting out exclamations with such venom that the hanyou was shocked to them. "-stupid, idiotic…! Arg!" She thrashed about in the foliage before managing to stand upright. She stomped back onto the path, huffing angrily.

Inuyasha snickered quietly, eyes on the poor mangled shrubbery behind the fuming girl. "I think you killed the bush," he told Kagome dryly.

"Sit." Without waiting for the hanyou to splutter out a reply, she stomped off recklessly into the wood, the large and battered yellow backpack flung over one shoulder. "And I'm taking a **week** off!" she hollered.

"What?" Inuyasha demanded, struggling against the spell. "Why, you-! We had an agreement, you liar!" He bellowed after her. "Five days! No more! I – " he stopped abruptly, eyes wide. "Oh, shit- ! KAGOME! GET BACK HERE!" He leapt to his feet and dashed after the girl. "There's a demon-!"

The hanyou skidded to a halt. "Oh," he said stupidly.

"Hello, Inuyasha-sama!" Miroku's demon friend, Hachiemon. "How are you today?" He bowed. "I was just telling Kagome here that I had an aunt who was blind, who turned out rather well." He glanced at the black-haired girl. "Of course, she had a much better nose that you, being a tanuki and all…" He shrugged. "I'm sorry to hear about your accident. Good luck with your lessons!" He bowed to both of them and trundled off, whistling.

"What were you thinking?" Inuyasha demanded hotly. "There're all sorts of demons out here!"

Kagome sniffed dismissively. "I know that. I'm perfectly fine."

"Then how'd Hachi manage to sneak up on you?" He grabbed her elbow and led her towards the well again.

Kagome jerked her elbow from his grip. "Who says he did? I knew he was there, and I went over to say hi! Jeez, I'm not a baby or anything!"

"Then how come you're actin' like one?" The hanyou retorted, chin jutting stubbornly.

"Sit!"

Inuyasha went slamming into the path, a great plume of dust making him sneeze. Ears swiveling, he listened as Kagome swished through the long grass, muttering under her breath, and hopped down the well.

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

Wearily, Kagome fumbled her way up the creaky wooden ladder and out of the dank well. The worn wooden steps muttered quietly, familiarly, as she made her way towards the door. The black-haired girl slid it open and stepped out into the cool afternoon air with a sigh of relief. It had been hot in Sengoku Jidai.

Distantly, voices greeted her ears and she swallowed. "Uh oh," she murmured. It was Ayumi and Yuka. With nowhere to hide, she casually tried to wander to the side of the house. What would they think if they saw her coming out of the well house?

"Oh! Kagome!" Yuka shrieked. Footsteps echoed on the inlaid stone. "How are you? Are you okay?" A hand squeezed her shoulder.

"Yeah!" Ayumi piped up. "We've been worried sick! We were just talking to your mom. What's with the whole hospital deal?"

Another pair of footsteps resounded off the stone as Mrs. Higurashi hurried after the other two. "Now, Kagome needs some time to rest, okay girls? I'm sorry, but why don't you come back tomorrow?"

There was a pause. "Oh, of course. I'm sorry, Higurashi-san, "Ayumi apologized. "We didn't mean to be rude."

Kagome smiled wanly and shuffled towards the Go-Shinboku. She could hear the wind through the rustling leaves as the tree swayed slowly. "I know." She paused and yawned theatrically.

"Well, we'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Yuka told the blind girl after an awkward silence. "If you need anything that we can help with, just ask!" The walked away, hushed whispers echoing starkly in the otherwise silent yard.

Mrs. Higurashi sighed. "They're quite a pair, you know," she told her daughter in a conversational tone. "They've been by every day after school since they found out."

A rush of guilt flooded Kagome's senses. "Oh," she said numbly. Her fingers met the weathered wood of the back door and she stepped up into the warm kitchen.

"I'm glad you're back, dear." Mrs. Higurashi patted her daughter comfortingly on the shoulder before going to the stove. "How was it, anyway?"

Kagome sighed gloomily. "Kaede showed me this way to try and see again, but I'm not very good at it," she admitted. There was a clink as her mother placed a plate in front of her.

Mrs. Higurashi paused over the stove, eyes wide with interest. "Really? See how?"

"Through my mind." Kagome fumbled with the chopsticks for a moment. "Apparently, there was this little girl named Nozomi who could was blind, and used her powers to see somehow." She grinned wryly before continuing. "But one day she just disappeared, and no one knows why. Miroku thinks that it's from her powers-"

"Nozomi?" Mr. Higurashi stuck his head through the doorway. "You mean the young priestess?"

"That's the one." Kagome put down her chopsticks. "Do **you** know the legend?"

The elderly man bristled at his granddaughter's incredulous tone. "Of course I do! It's an old Shinto legend, you know. A tragic tale about a young girl… who was a seer, wasn't it? And her village was beset by horrible demons, and she became a sacrifice, thus pacifying the demons' hunger."

Kagome shook her head. "I think you must be talking about a different Nozomi, Gran'pa. The one I learned about was blind, and she saw through her powers. Then she mysteriously disappeared. According to Myoga- the flea demon," she reminded them, "she might've been taken by a demon, or her powers made her disappear or something like that."

"But was she a little girl?" her grandfather queried.

Kagome nodded, swallowing before answering: "She was around six or seven, according to Myoga and Miroku."

"And she could see through her powers…" Mr. Higurashi mused. "I believe that it's the same legend, twisted by time. There are too many coincidences for it not to be."

"But **sacrificed**?" the black-haired girl asked. "How many endings do you think this legend has?"

"Probably far too many to count," her grandfather replied around a mouthful of food. "Make no mistake, the truth is in there somewhere, buried beneath centuries of storytelling and artistic license."

"I just hafta find it," Kagome concluded. After all, it could be a matter of life and death.

(\ /)

(•.•)

( )

"Are you sure?" Kaede asked, alarm evident in her voice and expression. "Three of them? And they were made of wood, bone and stone?"

"Yes," Miroku replied, puzzled. "What does it mean, Kaede-sama?"

"It means that the Twisted Essences aren't simply just a legend," the aging priestess replied solemnly as she stared into the soft warm glow of the fire. "It means that someone –or something- has raised them somehow."

"They weren't too hard to fight," Inuyasha bragged. "So what's the problem?"

"The problem is that a spell lost for thousands of years has suddenly reappeared." She shook her head. "The Essences, as far as legend has it, are not warriors, anyway. It is no surprise that you were victorious. They do not fight."

"Then what do they do?" Shippo's eyes were bright with curiosity as the fire popped and murmured sleepily to itself.

"Another mystery," Kaede sighed unhappily. "They disappeared long, long ago, so long that no one remembers. But I **do** know that they are not warriors. I recall a certain document…" She stared deeply into the fire as if it might help her remember. "Ah, yes. 'They drift through the shadows, wand'ring through life and death and all that is in between. One does not follow them; they are untraceable, as is the wind or a drop of water in a stream.' It went on to say something to the effect of, 'the Twisted Essences are the ultimate enigma, a mystery that is known by only one, who will follow them as she will.' But who 'she' is, I do not know."

Sango's eyes widened, glinting in the flickering warm firelight. "Would it possible for this person to be Nozomi?"

Kaede paused to consider. "With such strong spiritual powers, and such a young age…" She looked up at the demon exterminator. "It is possible. No, more than possible. It is likely."

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

The dream was clearer than ever.

"Kagome, Kagome…" The same soft voice echoed through her head, chillingly soft, nearly sinister. "Kagome…."

Ignoring the voice, Kagome sat down in the lavender-scented fog and fiercely willed herself to wake up.

The presence sighed contentedly. "At last, your mind is finally open enough for me to talk to you."

Kagome flinched and forgot all about waking up. "You mean that it's because of this seeing thing that you're here?" Alarm bells went off in her head.

There was a soft smile in the voice. "Yes. But only because I'm like you. And I can teach you much, much more. You have so much potential, just like I did… and I am in desperate need for a predecessor."

"First of all," demanded Kagome, "tell me who you are! I'm not agreeing to **anything** until you tell me."

There was a soft chuckle from somewhere in the mist of Kagome's mind. "You mean you have no idea?" A small figure stepped out of the dense swirling fog. She was a small girl with long, straight black hair, like a raven's wing. Her face was pale, a soft smile curling the corners of her lips. A strip of nondescript white cloth was wrapped around her eyes and her robes were those of a full-fledged priestess, astounding for one so young. "Now do you know who I am?"

The black-haired schoolgirl scrambled to her feet. "I think I might…" Kagome replied slowly, her eyes wide. "You wouldn't happen to be named 'Nozomi', would you?"

The small smile was all Kagome required for an answer.

"There's so much you must learn…"

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

AN: And the plot thickens…

Questions, comments, ect, please let me know!

By the way, it might take me a while to update. I'm on the final chapters of Haunted, which will require some careful thought and such. Unattainable's also at a turning point, and due to my rotation schedule, it might be a while. Sorry for the long wait this time around!

Some stuff came up…

Thanks for reading!


	6. A Plea For Help

AN: Wow… I suck. I'm really, really sorry about how long this took. Initially, I was taking a small break after finishing another story. Then, I got tons of homework. Then, I was lazy, and then I sprained my finger and couldn't type properly for two weeks 'cause my left ring and middle fingers were taped together. I really didn't mean for this to happen, and you are all justified for hating me now if you do.

Disclaimer: No owner would be HALF as irresponsible as me. I hope.

Responses:

**Kathryn Angelle**: No sweat! (About reviewing) I'm just glad you've reviewed more than once in the first place… Heh; I've just finished rereading the Dark Is Rising Sequence, myself. It's a great series, isn't it? I can read it over, and over, and over again… Go more in-depth with the characters; I'll keep that in mind, and thanks for pointing it out.

**Inuyasha's hun**: Heh… Sorry about that cliffie. Well, Kagome wears the glasses because she's uncomfortable with their current disability; metaphorically, she's hiding behind them. Nozomi has the bandana-ish thing for reasons currently unknown. It might come off later; it's not set in stone at the moment.

**the color blue**: Yeah… sorry about the grammar/spelling mistakes that litter my writing. (Don't have a beta, though I do skim my writing sometimes.) To be honest, we knew that he (the rabbit) was gonna die for a while. He wasn't doing so well, and it was probably for the best. The only thing is, my mom buried him in the back yard. I'm worried that my younger brother might dig him up by accident one day. (!) That would be bad.

**Ardent-Amber**: (Bows) Thank you!

**Summer Whispers**: Heh; it's my own way of ensnaring the reader. I kinda got the idea from the DaVinci Code; it was absolutely un-put-downable –and for me- redefined the meaning "Thriller". (Not the Michael Jackson song, of course)

**Pawz**: (Ch. 1) I'm glad that you like the bunnies! They're very fun to make. (Ch. 2) You're right, though (On the Inuyasha guide-dog thing), albeit a distinctly rude one. XD. (Ch. 3) Questions wll be answered, all in good time… (Ch. 4) Eek! Kagome ≠ Kikyo! No! Wow, I didn't realize that I made Inuyasha seem like that; I was really trying to make it more as if he was trying to help her, rather than see her as a duty… But I'd definitely say that their relationship has endured quite a shock, though not one they can't handle, after all, what with all they've been through up until this point. Kikyo **might** show up, but she's not too big of a character in it because I have problems writing her without making her pathetically tragic, or some sort of insane murderer. She's gotta be one of the most incredibly complex character in the show. (Ch. 5) I hope you find the answers to your questions in this chapter!

**Inu-Hakan the lord of the immortal fire**: Thanks! Glad'ja like it!

**NewSalemWitch**: Thank you! Oh, dear; where did you spot the OOC-ness? I shall find it, and kill it (Or try to). (Sigh) I was worried about that; the Kouga thing was really me just going out on a random whim. I'll go back and fix it, along with the OOC-ness. Thanks for tellin' me!

**Inu-ears**: Wow! Such high praise! Thank you, very much! And sorry it took so long!

**agent-doo**: Ooh, very, very close. Kagome can communicate with Nozomi because her powers **are** open to her, but for a different reason… Very perceptive! As for Miroku and Kaede's conversation… well, we'll see soon.

**Kairivoosh**: I think I got the general idea, though. Thank you!

**Inu Kaiba**: That kinda makes me guilty. I know it's been forever since I **did** update, and then there are people like you who are waiting patiently for me to get a move on. But now that I'm practically finished with Haunted, thing'll hopefully be moving faster.

**Tiamath**: Well, it could really **be** Nozomi –the one in her dreams- or it could be some sort of mind-reader demon, or an agent of Naraku's, or something to do with the golem-creatures… at this point, there are more than a few possibilities. (Sorry, I know that wasn't a very good answer.)

**Emerald Fox Fire**: O.o I hadn't quite thought of it **that** way… But you're right, there's quite a similarity there. Heh.

**Anonymous**: I'm sorry! I know it's been a long wait, and I really do know how you feel, having been in a situation myself when someone has taken forever to update a story. (Of course, coming from the angle of the author…)

**Sabrinaw**: Thankies! Sorry it took so long…

**Priestessxserenity**: Sorry sorry sorry! I know how impatient you must be now, and I'm really, really sorry that I put 'cha through all that waiting.

**Yumiko-Emiko**: Thanks!

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The Mind's Eye

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Chapter Six: A Plea for Help

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"Why are you here?" Kagome demanded, hands on hips as the thick mist swirled around her. To be honest, it creeped her out. Just like the little girl standing in front of her.

"To h-elp -ou." Nozomi's voice echoed through her mind, but it was almost as if something was blocking it. Like listening to a radio in need of tuning. "This is th-e onl-y way I can speak –ith you. In your subconsiou-" The black-haired girl retched and fell over in the mist.

"Hey!" Kagome forgot her suspicion. "Are you okay?" She tried to help the small girl up, but her hands sank right through her. Nozomi wasn't really there.

"Y-our mind regects me," Nozomi replied in the softest whisper as she struggled to her feet. "B-ut my request is ur-gen-"

_Creepy little girl_, Kagome thought as she stood back. "What's wrong? I'm not garaunteeing that I'll help you, though." _I'm still not sure if you're a demon in disguise, after all_…

"It's a lo-sing battle," Nozomi replied cryptically. "I-ve be-en restraining her for cen-turies, but she f-ights-"

Kagome was becoming exasperated. "What are you talking about?"

"M-other. The m-other-" Nozomi was fading from sight, as if Kagome's vision was going blurry. "-disaster. I can no lon-ger hold her in-"

"Hey!" But everything was fading. With a frustrated sigh, Kagome felt everything disintegrate around her. "I'm getting really sick of this," she grumbled.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"What?"

The others stared at her, askance, and Kagome found herself blushing slightly at the abrupt silence her comment created.

"I'm serious! She said that she was Nozomi, from the legend!" she said defensively, breakfast forgotten.

Miroku looked relieved. "Well, that explains quite a bit… such as how she could access your mind while you were sleeping, for instance."

"Why?" Sango set down her bowl.

"Because Kagome and Nozomi undoubtedly possess similar talents. Nozomi must've been highly sensitive to all manner of spiritual energy. The process that Kagome is going through widens her mind's ability to perceive through her powers."

"I see…" Kagome said slowly. "It's like a filter. The bigger the gaps, the more stuff I can detect, right?"

Miroku nodded in approval. "Exactly." His expression sobered. "However, there're still downsides. Your mind is more accessible. If I understand the mechanics correctly, your powers are acting as a channel between your mind and the world around you, just as your eyes would."

Kagome nodded thoughtfully as she fumbled with her food; another problem with being blind. "That makes sense…"

"Hey Miroku," Inuyasha interrupted, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?"

The monk replied, injury evident in his voice; "I didn't know before. I just started researching this technique." He turned back to his food. With a troubled frown on his face, he asked, "Kagome, what exactly is this?"

"Could you describe it?"

"Well, it's rectangular, and flat, and it's pink on one side…" He broke off a piece. "And there seems to be some strange… jam on the inside."

"Sounds like a pop tart." Kagome shrugged. "My cousin Michiko likes 'em, and she was staying at our house a few weeks ago. We had a bunch of leftovers after she left…"

"Ah." Dubiously, he nibbled at the corner. "It's so sweet."

Shippo perked up at this. "Can I try some, Miroku?"

Distastefully, the monk handed it to him. Shippo enjoyed it immensely. "Do you have any more of these, Kagome?"

The schoolgirl smiled slightly. "They're all yours."

"So you're saying that people'll be able to read my thoughts?" Kagome shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, you're not **broadcasting** them, if you know what I mean. Mind-reading will just be easier," Miroku explained. "But it's the same as seeing; eyes can be tricked, and so can your powers. There's downsides to both, you see?" He frowned. "The fact that a spirit can access your mind is rather troubling, even if she was once an incredibly powerful miko."

"She's creepy," admitted Kagome. "Kinda like Kanna, actually. She even **looks** kinda like her."

Kagome could hear alarm in the monk's voice as he replied. "You mean that you can see her?"

Kagome nodded. "She's got long black hair, and she looks about nine or so. Wearing white."

"Of course. Your mind is your domain. You don't need eyes to see there." Miroku sighed. "But what I don't understand is why the Twisted Essences reappeared after so long."

"Oh, I remember!" Kagome sat up straight. "Nozomi said that she needed my help, that some 'Mother' was escaping her, or something." The abrupt, tense silence from the others told her that this was big news.

"…The 'Mother'?" Sango repeated, her tone carefully neutral. "She didn't… elaborate, did she?"

"…No…" Kagome replied thoughtfully, thinking back. "She just said 'Mother'."

"Sango, you've heard of her?" Miroku asked, curious.

"It rings a bell…" the demon exterminator thought for a moment and sighed with frustration. "But I can't remember now. I have a feeling that it's not good, though."

Miroku nodded. "Doubtless, if a priestess is holding her back. And if she's just keeping this 'Mother' in check, then I'd assume that it's a powerful demon."

"Hey-" Kagome stopped abruptly and frowned. "I had it! There's a legend at home." She sighed. "And even **if** I could find it, I wouldn't be able to read it. But I know what it looks like. It's very, very old, and it's kept in a small black box. I think it's made of granite, and the writing's so archaic that it's almost impossible to read." She picked at her food, her sleepy morning mood soured with yet another reminder of her disability.

There was an awkward silence as everyone thought of what to say in response. Inuyasha finally managed a weak, "Keh."

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

"Nozomi?" Kagome stood in the mist, foot tapping impatiently upon the ground. "Where are you?" The mist of the last few nights had disappeared completely, but Kagome was still unable to see her surroundings. If she strained her eyes enough, she could make out dim shapes.

Kagome glanced about uneasily. "Hey, Nozomi?"

"Hello."

Kagome turned with a slight shudder. Somehow, she'd forgotten how creepy the little priestess was. "Oh, hey. Could you finish telling me what you were-"

"I'm afraid that I will not be able to finish explaining. There is very little time." For once, Kagome noticed a flicker of urgency in the otherwise pale and expressionless face. "I need to give you instructions."

Kagome watched her carefully, suspicious. "And what're the instructions for, exact-"

"At the next full moon, Mother will be able to break free. Before that time, I must instruct you how to seal her away. One cannot do it. I can only hold her. But perhaps two…"

Kagome was flung back violently from this other-place –or perhaps dragged away with a frustrated sigh. She broke through a rubbery resistance, and she was rushed through normal space, trees rushing by in a blur. "Whoa!" She put her hands up as a dark trunk approached. She was going to crash-

"Huh? I passed through it…" And another strange thing, Kagome noticed with sudden suspicion and bewilderment. "I can see? What the heck is going on here?"

Her path started to descend closer to the ground, and then jolted as she crashed into something solid.

"Ow!" Kagome sat up and rubbed her head indignantly.

"Kagome!"

"Are you alright?"

"What in all the hells-"

Something small crashed into her shoulder. "Kagome! We thought you were never gonna wake up!"

She couldn't see again, and a small part of her crumpled with disappointment. Every one of these runins with Nozomi left her bitterly feeling her loss.

A clawed hand gripped her shoulder painfully tight. "Kagome?" Beneath the roughness of his tone, she could hear Inuyasha's concern. "Was it Nozomi again? What happened?"

Miroku broke in, sounding tired. "I had to drag your spirit back to your body when you wouldn't wake up. It wasn't easy. Someone had a very strong grip on you."

"So that's why I got dragged out. And it **did** look different…" the schoolgirl mused. "Usually, the place I saw was all misty. This time it was really blurry, but there was no mist."

Her explanation was received by troubled silence.

Still clinging to her arm, Shippo asked, "Kagome, aren't you **worried**? We really have no idea who this Nozomi person is! And what if it's one of Naraku's tricks again?"

"It is something he'd do," Sango admitted thoughtfully. "But could he have become strong enough to release those golems?"

"And Kagura was there, remember."

"If only I remembered that legend!" Kagome exclaimed in frustration. "Arg! This is driving me insane!"

"I suggest that we head back to the Well. Kagome can to her time and search for the legend, and we can consult Kaede." As usual, Miroku had come up with the most logical idea.

"Fine," Inuaysha said grudgingly.

"It's not like we were looking for anything," Sango reprimanded. "Don't sound so sulky."

"You should take your own advice, Sango," Shippo commented frankly.

Sango laughed slightly. "I think you're right," she admitted, standing up and swinging Hiraikotsu over one shoulder. She'd been tense lately, with the three monsters, Kagome's meetings with Nozomi, but most of all, an instinct that constantly nagged her, telling her that she was overlooking something very important.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

After deciding to head back to the village- and the Bone Eater's Well, the next few days were uneventful, besides a minor rainstorm and a run-in with a small band of bandits, who ended up running away from them.

The relatively easy trip should've warned Kagome that something bad was going to happen.

Blearily, the black-haired girl sat up in bed and blew her stuffed nose, tossing the used tissue into the half-full wastepaper basket next to her. "Of all the times to catch a cold…" she muttered grumpily, pounding head falling back on her pillow.

"Kagome?" It was Souta calling from the bottom of the stairs.

Kagome sat up again. "Did Grampa find the legend?" she asked eagerly.

"No," replied the younger sibling, exasperated. "I'll tell you when he finds it! Inuyasha's here, though."

Her door opened with a creak and the hanyou's rough voice said, "So he's still lookin', huh? The old geezer's been down there two days."

"I know," Kagome acknowledged groggily, "but he keeps finding stuff that he forgot we had. He was drooling over some old samurai sword a few hours ago, and before that it was a necklace thing. I wish I could see… it, I mean. I wish I could look for it myself, but 'cause I'm sick-"

"I know," he said flatly. _I know that you're suffering_. _I know you can't stand being blind_."Hey, I could help him look."

"Are you sure?" Kagome replied doubtfully, rubbing her nose and sniffing. "Well, if you want, go ahead." She leaned back against the pillow. "Suit yourself." She listened as his footsteps retreated out of the room and down the stairs and sighed.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Half an hour of fruitless searching later, the only thing that was keeping Inuyasha from killing Kagome's grandfather was the amount of pain the girl would inflict on him if he did.

Meanwhile, the senior seemed to've made yet another "incredible find".

"Look here, boy!" Excitedly, he held up what appeared to be an old shoe. "Do you know what this is?"

"No," the hanyou replied flatly. "And I don't care, either-"

"It's an ancient artifact from over 800 years ago! It's priceless! How can you say that you don't care?" huffed Mr. Higurashi, brandishing the "priceless artifact". "This is a piece of history, right here in my hand! If I remember correctly, this belonged to a powerful warlord who…"

Fists clenched tightly and trembling with desire to hit the old man, Inuyasha slowly counted to ten. "Let's just find that legend, okay?"

"Ah! Of course." Reverently, Mr. Higurashi placed the shoe down in a steadily growing pile of artifacts. "If I remember correctly, it should be in the corner over there- my goodness! I'd completely forgotten about these!"

"Hey!" Inuyasha finally shouted. "We're looking for the LEGEND, remem-"

"The wedding." The senior smiled fondly. "Under the Go-Shinboku… it was such a happy time."

Curiously, the hanyou peered over his shoulder. "You mean that's Kagome's dad?" he asked, clawed finger indicating a broadly smiling man.

"Yes. His name was Kiyoshi." Mr. Higurashi cleared his throat. "He died before Souta was born in a fire."

"Oh." Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably.

"Anyway…" Mr. Higurashi straightened and put the dusty photo back. "Let's find that legend. Oh! The petrified leg of a bull! What a find!"

Inuyasha sniffed in disgust. "You have a worse attention span than Miroku when pretty women walk by him-"

And sniffed again.

Putting one hand to his nose, he pondered aloud. "Hey, old man, is that leg you found rotting?"

Mr. Higurashi bristled. "How dare you suggest that I'd let something so precious fall into disrepair!"

"No, that's not it…" the hanyou continued, completely ignoring the senior. "It's not like meat rotting…" It was a cloying, thickly sweet smell- like rotting meat- but there was something else there. Like the smell of the black smoke that came from the big metal contraptions that thundered about in this era. Something poisonous and metallic.

And definitely _not_ good.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Hey Sango, Inuyasha's been gone a long time, huh?"

Shippo sat down on the ground by the demon exterminator's feet as she kept a wary eye on a certain wayward monk as he flirted shamelessly with two women.

"Kagome's there. It's like he's being drawn by a magnet." She smiled slightly as a woman slapped Miroku for putting his hands where they didn't belong. "Bet he didn't know she was engaged."

"No, he knew," Shippo replied. "He knows about _all_ the village women. He just couldn't keep away- Ouch. That looked pretty painful." The fox demon's green eyes widened as Miroku reeled back, eyes slightly out of focus.

"He deserved it." Sango smiled in satisfaction. "He's always standing around women, and it's time he learned his lesso-"

She swung round, brown eyes searching intently for something in the forest behind her, immediately falling into a defensive posture.

"Sango?"

Nothing but silence and the quiet rustling of the trees. After a moment, she sighed and lowered her arm. "There's something out there," she said. "And it's watching us."

Shippo shuddered. "Stoppit. You're scaring me." With a paranoid glance behind his shoulder, he scampered up to Sango and tugged on the hem of her clothes. He was feeling uneasy all of a sudden."C'mon. Let's go!" His voice rose to a shrill note, because he suddenly realized that Sango was right; he could've sworn that he'd seen someone running away.

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

Inuyasha was pushing through heaps of junk. "No, no, no…"

Mr. Higurashi was almost in tears. "What're you **doing**? That's a priceless mask from Bejing, imported by the- no! Don't tip that upside down! Those are the ashes of the famous warrior Tsuitoku of-"

"Never heard of 'im. Now shut up, I'm trying to concentrate- ah! Here it is!"

"What?" Mr. Higurashi set the rescued urn on the floor and stepped over the mess the hanyou had made. "Ah! You found it!"

"I think you should step back, old man." Inuyasha set the small black box on the floor. Smoke was wafting from beneath the lid, but instead of rising into the air, it gathered around the floor in little plumes, bringing with it that same thick smell.

"It's been cursed!" The senior recoiled in horror. Gathering he wits, he continued; "Don't worry, I'll exorcise it in a moment. I'll go assemble some things-"

"No time for that," Inuyasha replied tersely as the smoke –or was it mist?- started to ebb. Grabbing a long pole (with great protest from Mr. Higurashi), he gingerly lifted the lid.

"Dammit!"

The box was empty. Nozomi's legend was gone, except for a few fragments of ash. It had burned to a crisp. The small black box slipped from between Inuyasha's fingers as he turned and stalked out of the basement, Mr. Higurashi close behind him.

Neither of them noticed the strange pattern left by the ash on the bottom of the box; a circle with a two lines cutting across the center in a cross.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Upstairs, Kagome was sitting upright in bed, despite a pounding headache that urged her to lie down. As Inuyasha's footsteps stomped up the stairs and the door to her bedroom crashed open, she asked, "What happened? There was a strange surge of energy from the basement."

With a low, bad-tempered growl underlying his words, the hanyou briefly explained what happened.

"Huh," commented Kagome. "That was bad timing."

"Obviously," snorted Inuyasha in reply. "Someone –or something doesn't want to find something out about Nozomi. Especially not why she suddenly disappeared. Something probably took her away, and doesn't want us to know what it is."

"Maybe Miroku found out some other stuff," Kagome responded sleepily.

"I'll go check." The door slammed shut and footsteps echoed on the stairs.

"He's taking this too personally," Kagome commented, blowing her nose. She paused to throw the tissue in a steadily-filling garbage basket by her bed. "I wonder why?"

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

"Kagome!"

It was Eri, and she was standing right outside of Kagome's bedroom.

Kagome moved away from her desk- she was thoroughly sick of stumbling over Braille- and opened the door to her room. "Hi, Eri!"

"Are you okay?" It was Ayumi. "Your Grandfather said that you were in the hospital since…"

"…since your accident," concluded Eri, eager to break in. "Why were you there so long?"

"Um… They had to do tests on my eyes," Kagome replied. "And stuff."

"Oh. Here; we brought you flowers! And Hojo-" Ayumi giggled slightly- "asked us to give you **this**."

Eri put a bag in Kagome's lap. Her hands traced the object carefully. "What is it?"

"Oh! Here!" There was a rustling sound as Ayumi unwrapped the present. "It's a book in Braille; a really simple one, so that you can practice reading with it."

Kagome sighed.

"What? You don't like it?" Eri asked anxiously. "I'm sure he didn't mean anything-"

"No, it's not that!" Kagome hastily assured them. "It's a great idea. I've been doing a lot of work with Braille. It's _impossible_!" She set the book on the table and wrinkled her nose. "What's that smell?"

"What smelll? I don't smell anything…"

"It's like…" _weird_. She picked up the flowers and sniffed. "It's the flowers."

Eri picked them up. "Wow, you have a really good sense of smell, Kagome. I couldn't smell them at all. They're lavendar."

They were. But there was something else there, too. Something that wasn't like flowers at all… She sniffed again and frowned. "Eri, these flowers. Do you notice anything weird about them?"

"Whaddaya mean?" The other schoolgirl was puzzled. "They're just flowers. Is there something wrong, Kagome?"

"No. I was just wondering."

If only she could see for herself. Why did she have to become blind _now_, when all these monsters were running around and a dead girl popped in and out of her dreams?

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"… said… the…cat… to … the …dog. If… they… both… worked… to-together… the… work… would… go… faster." Kagome slammed the book closed and flopped back on her bed. Hojo's book may have been a good idea, but his choice of reading could use some work.

Okay, a _lot_ of work.

And Inuyasha –despite good intentions, and because of curiousity- kept peering over her shoulder when she was trying to read, and making all sorts of comments on the funny bumps on the paper when he was there. As he was doing now.

"Hey! Why'd you close it? I was looking at it. Wouldn't closing it smash all the little bumps? Seems pretty stupid, if you ask me. They should be made out of wood. Then they could get squished."

"It's also be a lot more expensive," Kagome interrupited. "Besides, paper is wood."

"Does it matter?" The hanyou snorted. "It's still a stupid idea, if you ask-"

"…ask?" Kagome concluded. "Well, I didn't ask you, did I?" When Inuyasha didn't reply, Kagome concentrated. With an odd twinging feeling that she was starting to get used to, she scanned the room. He'd left.

"Well, _that's_ rude."

After a few minutes in which Kagome actually got some work accomplished, Inuyasha returned, grumbling under his breath.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing," the hanyou replied sourly. "Absolutely nothing."

"If you say so," Kagome said dubiously. "But if you're just gonna sit and grumble, you can do it somewhere else."

"What's that smell?" Inuyasha sounded anxious.

"Oh, you mean these?" She groped for the vase that her mother had put the flowers in. "They smell pretty weird, don't they? But I dunno what it is. Do they look funny to you?"

Inuyasha didn't reply. He pulled one of the stems from the vase, amber eyes hostile. He sniffed.

"Yeck!"

"What's wrong?" Kagome demanded as he gagged. "Are you alright?"

Hastily returning the flower to it's vase, he replied. "It's the same smell as that box!"

"What box?"

"The one with the legend in it! Or, the one that _used_ to have the legend in it. Before it burned."

Kagome frowned. "That's weird. I'll hafta ask Ayumi and Eri where they got these." She indicated the vase. "Because I didn't think they smelled right when they brought them in- hey! I wonder if they have an aura!" A twinge, and then…

"They do!"

"Well, don't just sit there! Describe it!"

"Okay! You don't hafta get so crazy about it! It's kinda like a normal plant, and kinda like those golem-things. But not like it. It's weird like it."

"Then I'm taking them to Kaede." He grabbed the vase and strode out of the room.

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

AN: I'M SO SORRY! (Again). I PROMISE THAT THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL NOT TAKE FOUR MONTHS TO WRITE!

Questions and comments are welcome. And criticism is more than welcome; I encourage it! (Reading over bits of Haunted, I realized that I don't like my writing).

Thanks for reading!


	7. Obakemono

AN: Ehhh…. Finals week. Bleeeh. Well, I've been trying to tie in some already-established Japanese myth, but I can't find anything for flowers or much for animals… Any suggestions? I need all the help I can get!

Responses:

**Silverbloodrain**: Thanks! I'm glad that you like my work.

**rin**: Ah, so _that's_ what happened to Kagome's dad! I always wondered… I imagined some sort of great conspiracy. Thanks for telling me.

**Inu Kaiba**: Thank you! And I'm REALLY sorry about the lack of updating… And thank you VERY much for the offer! That's very generous- and I certainly could use a beta. Sounds like a good idea.

**Inu-ears**: Sorry! I'll try to explain things more in the future. Sometimes I think I've explained something pretty well, and everyone's confused, and sometimes I think I'm being very clever and everyone knows exactly what's going to happen. XD I'll get it right someday!

**ViodPheonix**: Thanks very much! Again, sorry about how long it took…

**Archerelf**: Thank you! Usually takes me a few weeks to do a chapter because they're pretty long most of the time… Last one I cheated and made it fifteen pages. I usually try to do about seventeen, though… Don't feel inadequate! I'm just weird with my chapters.

**Lostmoonchild**: Yay! I thought I was getting a bit too descriptive in some parts, but I'm glad you liked it.

**Blackartemis**: Wah! I'm sorry that it takes me so long to update! Really, if I had more time, I'd write more, but… well, I don't. Which stinks. But I'm glad you like it!

**Angel4life**: Thank you! That's really kind of you (improvement of writing). I feel all warm and happy now. On Kagome's father's name; I spent a long time looking for something that fit, and I'm glad it works!

**Dudekiller**: Thank you! Making the reader see the story through Kagome's eyes (Part of the time) was what I was aiming for; I'm glad it worked!

**Sabrinaw**: Heh… I have a **very** short attention span. I'll walk into a room to get something and forget what it was. XD The party sounds good! I'll bring… chips! And guacamole!

**Inuyasha's hun**: Yeah, sorry about that. The chapter really shouldn't have taken that long… Hopefully that won't happen again!

**Inuyasha**: When I said that it wouldn't take four months, I meant it wouldn't take another four months for me to write one chapter, not the entire story. I don't think I'd make that deadline. On that note, I am updating whenever I have the chance to write and something good to add to the story. I realize that it takes a long time, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

**Chibi Rouyakan**: Thank you!

**Tiamath**: Thanks! I was afraid that all the little twists were getting too confusing and numerous; I'm glad that they're not becoming irritating.

**Ganheim**: Well, -for the "megalithic youkai" as you so aptly put it- maybe not _so_ soon… A few chapters, maybe… I'll keep the slang in mind- I looked over the chapter, and I think you're right.

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Disclaimer: Disclaimed!

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The Mind's Eye

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Chapter Seven: Obakemono

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"Hm…" Kaede frowned as she thought, drumming her fingers against the wooden floor as she did so. "I don't like the sound of it," she concluded, glancing at Inuyasha. "You're sure that the flowers and box smell exactly the same?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, hag?" the hanyou demanded impatiently. "It was the same!"

"I can only conclude that someone is keeping close tabs on Kagome," she admitted. "I suggest you stay by her, just in case."

"Fine." He stood up abruptly and headed out, pausing shortly at the door. "Who do you think it is…?"

Kaede sighed. "At this point, I can only assume that someone either had **good** intentions by destroying the legend and sending flowers through Kagome's friends, or this…being is playing with us."

"Well, I'm assuming that it's some demon or other. Why the hell would it destroy the legend if it wanted to help us?" And with that, the hanyou stalked out of the house and towards the well.

"One never knows. There might be a good reason." A few minutes later, Kaede sat upright and exclaimed, "Ah! I forgot to tell him about the creature that was watching Sango and Shippo!"

And Sango had caught it, too. After a few days of being followed by something she couldn't see, the demon exterminator became fed up and decided to hunt it down. With disturbing results.

The thing that she'd finally caught was a humongous black bird that looked almost like a hawk, the wingspan over twelve feet in diameter. "And it didn't go down easily, either," Sango reported, a smug note in her voice as villagers began to gather and stare.

"The only thing is," she continued, expression troubled, "I have no idea what it is."

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Kagome was bored sick.

Her first day back at school had drawn uncomfortable whispers, awkward silences, and pity that she didn't want. She stumbled over steps, wandered into walls, and couldn't find three of her classes. Perhaps the worst was when Hojo found her about to enter the boys' restroom, thinking that it was Higuchi-sensei's classroom.

The only good thing that happened those last two days was that she'd been able to steadily pick up her classmates' auras, although she still couldn't tell boys from girls and old from young.

Souta had been surprisingly helpful. Noticing easily how depressed and frustrated his sister was, he'd gone to the library and researched Nozomi's legend, coming home jubilantly with an old, weather-beaten book by a history professor on old legends.

"Look!" He tapped the book with one finger. "I got something. It says 'Once upon a time there was a small village near a lake. One day, a woman named Koboshi gave birth to a little girl, who was named Nozomi. She was blind. Her mother despaired, for no one would want to marry a girl who could not see and was no help around the house, even if she was as pretty as Nozomi was.

Then one day a priest came upon this village. He said that he was drawn by the strong spiritual aura coming from it. He was practiced in the ways of seeing an aura, and could see it from many miles away.

Upon following this aura for many days, he came upon the village. In that village was the blind child, Nozomi. When he learned that she was blind and saw the way that her aura radiated with foolish abandon-'" Souta stopped. "What's he mean, 'foolish abandon'?"

"He probably means that anyone could see it, like demons," Mr. Higurashi speculated with a wise air.

"Oh." Souta resumed. "-'and the way that her aura radiated with foolish abandon, he decided to stay in the village and teach Nozomi how to see auras and hide her own. Many months passed before Nozomi was able to recognize an aura with precision and hide her own.' Hey Kagome, you're doing better than her!"

"Yeah," Kagome replied grumpily, "I'm not a six-year-old kid, am I?"

Souta sighed and went back to reading. "The monk left and went his own way, while Nozomi stayed in the village. With practice, she was soon able to see far more than the auras of people; she could sense plants and animals, too. With her eyes, nothing was out of sight."

Kagome heard the book close. "That's all?"

Souta reopened the book. "Oh wait, there's a note on the end. 'Although there was evidently more to this myth, the scroll recovered by archeologists was damaged. Officially, the conclusion of Nozomi's Legend is uncertain, however, less official versions give various endings; Nozomi found a path to heaven that no one else could see, jealous priests killed her, demons took her. Only one thing is certain, and that is that she disappeared before her tenth birthday.' That's all it says."

"Great," she muttered bad-temperedly, standing up and making her way to the door.

"Kagome?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, concerned.

"I'm going to my room."

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

"Tengu."

Sango looked up, confused. "What did you say, Miroku?"

"Tengu. I think the demon you killed was a crow, a Tengu." The black-haired man wore a troubled expression as they walked through the woods towards the bone-eater's well.

"But," Sango protested, "I thought that tengu were smaller… Not that I've ever seen one."

"That's it exactly," Miroku replied. "Tengu stay in the mountains; why would one be spying on you? I've also heard that tengu are rarely seen near Fuji. Suddenly, their numbers have exploded."

Sango wore a grave expression. "I don't like it," she admitted. "Those golems, that bird… And then there's Nozomi. And that demon that was watching us while we were sleeping. I find it hard to believe that all of this is just a coincidence."

"Yes," Miroku agreed. "Kagome told us that Nozomi was struggling to contain someone."

"Or something," Shippo piped up. "She didn't say what it was, did she? Maybe it was that giant tengu."

"I wish that it was that simple," Miroku replied. "But I imagine that this demon that Nozomi was containing is beginning to break free and release its allies."

They'd reached the well. Shippo peered down into the darkness. "Well, what're we gonna do? Kagome and Inuyasha are on the other side."

Miroku smiled. "We just need to catch Inuyasha's attention. With the right thing, he'll come running." He pulled out a sutra. "If I'm correct, this will catch his attention." He dropped the scrap of paper in the well. Prudently, he stepped away from the well.

"Miroku?" Shippo asked. "Why are you-"

A sudden huge explosion rocked the clearing. As the dust cleared, Shippo stared at the well dumbly.

"Miroku!" Sango demanded. "Couldn't you do something a bit less... destructive next time?" She whacked him over the head with Hiraikotsu.

Rubbing the bump on his head gingerly, Miroku admitted, "I didn't know it'd be _that_ strong…"

Several seconds later, an irate and soot-blackened Inuyasha hopped out of the smoking well, sneezing violently. "What the hell was that?" Amber eyes glared at each of them in turn.

"It was Miroku's fault!" Shippo said, pointing an accusatory finger. "He just threw this sutra in the well and it exploded!"

The hanyou rounded on the accused. "Why in all the seven hells would you do **that**?"

The monk was slightly irritated now. "Inuyasha, calm down. I was only trying to catch your attention-"

"A damn good way to catch my attention!"

Shippo frowned. "Inuyasha… is something wrong? You're acting… prickly."

The hanyou huffed. "You should ask _Kagome_, not me! She's been acting like everything's my fault! I didn't even _do_ anything!"

Miroku and Sango exchanged looks.

"That's what you always say, Inuyasha," Shippo replied. "And it's always your fault!"

"But I didn't even say anything!" Inuyasha folded his arms across his chest and glared at the kitsune. "She's been like that to everyone! And she said 'Sit' so many times this morning that I left a dent in the kitchen floor."

Miroku frowned. Despite the hanyou's attempts to hide it behind his usual roughness, he was plainly concerned about Kagome. "Kagome is probably just getting used her condition," the monk tried to explain.

"She's had nearly a month for that!" Inuyasha retorted, glancing distractedly at the well.

"I remember that when my father died, I was fine for the first two weeks, but then… it got rough for me," Miroku admitted.

Inuyasha stopped pacing and listened, one ear twitching in his direction. Sango instinctively reached out, then pulled her hand back, thinking that the monk might get the wrong idea. Miroku rarely spoke of anything that was really important to him, especially when it was about his own mortality.

"I went about as usual, just avoiding that he was gone, even though I saw it with my own eyes. I kept thinking that he'd turn up around then next corner, smiling his usual smile. Then, one day, I just snapped. It was as if I'd suddenly woken up and realized that something irreplaceable was gone, never to return. Perhaps Kagome just realized that."

Sango put a hand on Miroku's shoulder. _I know how you feel, Miroku_. _I know how it feels to lose someone so close, right in front of you, when there's nothing that you can do_.

And then she felt his hand edging around her waist. "Miroku…!"

Thonk.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

She was crying.

Inuyasha could smell the salt and hear the quiet hiccups from the moment he walked into the house, his mind troubled with giant tengu and reawakening demons.

Those thoughts fled his mind as soon as he realized what was going on, amber eyes going wide with surprise and mouth pursed in a tight line.

"Inuyasha?" Souta frowned at the hanyou from the kitchen table where he was working on homework. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Slowly, the hanyou walked outside again, his mind a roaring blank of indecision. He didn't know what to do, what to say to Kagome. This was no foe he could protect her from with a sword and claws. How in all the hells could _he_ of all people find something to say to her?

The hanyou sighed unhappily and hopped into the tree by her window. Taking a deep breath- she'd probably Sit him into oblivion- he tapped carefully on the window.

Kagome ignored him. She was sitting at her desk, hands over her mouth and bangs hanging low over her eyes. Her shaded glasses were sitting on her nightstand.

Taking this as a sign that it was okay for him to enter, Inuyasha cautiously opened the window and landed slightly on the carpet.

"…Kagome?..."

She flinched and turned away. "Don't you know how to knock?"

Inuyasha barely bit back a harsh reply, taking a deep breath and reminding himself that Kagome wasn't exactly herself right now. It wasn't hard to remember, not when the pungent smell of salt permeated the room and Kagome was huddled in her chair, hiccupping quietly.

"Uh… Are you okay?" Inuyasha winced. _What a stupid question_.

"No," Kagome replied, voice even but edgy. "I'm not okay. Do I _look_ okay?"

The hanyou bit the inside of his cheek. This wasn't going well. He had no idea what to say now, and the silence stretched between them, broken only by Kagome's occasional sniffs.

Finally, Inuyasha asked, "Do you want me to leave?"

Kagome shook her head.

Hesitantly, the hanyou walked over to her bed and sat down. "Well, what's wrong?" _Another stupid question_…

Kagome sighed. "At first, I was okay with not seeing things, because of this training. But it's not like seeing at all, really. There aren't colors. There aren't shapes. I just know where something _is_, and what it is. I miss seeing things, like the sunset, people's faces… It's _frustrating_. And I don't even know why I _can't_ see! Stupid doctors."

"Kagome…"

The girl flinched in surprise when Inuyasha's hand gripped her shoulder tightly. With a sigh, she rested her head on his shoulder.

(•.•)

--( • )--

With her nasty cold finally gone, Kagome returned with determinedly good cheer to Sengoku Jidai.

"Ahh, fresh air!" There was a thump to her left as Inuyasha dumped her backpack in the meadow. "It's so nice to be back. I wonder what Sango and Miroku have learned about-"

Inuyasha's voice broke through sharply. "Something's wrong."

Kagome paused, half out of the well. The old worn wood was damp beneath her palms. "What?" With the ease of long practice, she took a deep breath and searched the area with her mind. "I don't notice anything. It all seems normal."

"Think, stupid," the hanyou retorted, agitation making him sharp. "There's nothing. No birds, no animals…"

Straining, Kagome reached further. "There's a strong demonic aura in the village." She clambered out of the well. "I don't think anyone's there, but no one's dead, either… I think. I'm still not too good at it."

The long grass rustled as Inuyasha grabbed Kagome and her pack as he rushed through the meadow. "Dammit…"

Kagome knew what he was thinking. "Inuyasha, it's not your fault. You couldn't have known."

"That's not it." The hanyou denied. "I was only thinking that-"

"It's right in front of us! Whatever it is…"

Inuyasha paused, then swung around and raced back in the opposite direction.

"What're you _doing_?" Kagome demanded. "It's right behind us!" She frowned as she thought. Inuyasha wasn't the sort of person to run from danger. He was more likely to throw himself in the middle of it. So what on earth was going on?

The hanyou stopped. "Making sure you're safe," he replied, dumping her and her backpack down the well again. "Stay there until I come back!"

"Wha-?" Speechless with fury, Kagome plummeted down the shaft. "I'm _not_ baggage, you know!"

The hanyou turned. "Now… I can deal with you. What the hell did you do to the villagers?"

The large black bird shrieked as it made circles in the sky. Spiraling lower, I came to the ground and with a small popping sound, transformed. A small old man with eyes like Kanna's and a long beaky nose looked at him coldly. Inuyasha's nose twitched; he stank of corroded metal.

"The villagers?" His voice was harsh and gravelly. "There were none."

"Really?" the hanyou demanded, drawing Tetsusaiga. "Then why's there _blood_ all over your face?"

The woman's expression didn't change. "There was livestock. We ate it."

"I meant the _human_ blood." Inuyasha glanced up at the sky; other black shapes were spiraling down towards the clearing.

"Another village." Behind him, the others had landed. They stood in little disorganized clumps, unmoving. They were like puppets; none of them twitched or even blinked, and all of them wore the same monk's apparel.

With growing incredulity, Inuyasha looked the apparent leader in the eye and asked. "What sort of monsters are you?"

"We are tengu." With mechanical movements, the others surrounded him.

"I thought so. You were the ones following Sango around." His hands tightened around Tetsusaiga's hilt. "In that case, I won't hold back."

One of the old men cackled. "Good."

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Naraku was furious. In fact, he'd gone from shocked to disbelieving, to angry, to enraged, to furious in a matter of minutes. Four days later, he was still furious.

So, naturally, Kagura was enjoying herself, a small sneer gracing her lips as she watched her creator try to regain his usual cold composure. It wasn't working, and the wind demon wasn't surprised; someone had stolen his Shikon fragment and replaced it with a very clever counterfeit. They didn't even know how long that it'd been gone. It could've been days, weeks, or even months.

"Kagura." Naraku's eyes darted in her direction. "Go find Kikyo. Bring her back here. I want an explanation."

_In other words, he doesn't know **what** to think_, she thought smugly, wordlessly walking out of the room, the tatami mats beneath her feet sighing quietly as she went. _And he needs her help_.

It was Kikyo, after all, who'd first found that the shard was a fake during another one of her casual visits that she made every now and then, simply to insult Naraku. As Kagura took off, she couldn't help the bitter twinge of jealousy. She wished that she could do that. Especially the part about insulting Naraku.

It wasn't long before Kagura located the temple where Kikyo was staying and the feather wheeled lower and lower in the sky. Crimson eyes roamed over the temple grounds. Kikyo was outside in a field picking herbs. The wind witch hopped off and landed elegantly, right in front of the dead priestess. "Naraku needs your help. He has no idea where the shard is."

"I was expecting Naraku to summon me about now," Kikyo stated. "I didn't think that one like him would be able to find even a shard half the size of his fist."

Kagura waited for a moment while Kikyo bent down again to pull a plant up. "So you're coming?" she prompted, fan tapping her arm with impatience.

Cold grey eyes glanced contemptuously at the wind witch. "You will tell Naraku that, unlike you, I am not one of his puppets at his beck and call. I have other more important business to attend to. I will come at my own time. He has no control over me." Coolly, she yanked out another plant and looked at Kagura again. "And neither do you."

"I'll deliver the message," the wind witch retorted waspishly. She turned and stalked off. _Irritating woman_. _Naraku's not going to be pleased to receive the message_. _And he'll undoubtedly take it out on me_. She sighed. _Great_.

(•.•)

--( • )--

"Miroku?"

Shippo clung to the monk's shoulder as large grass green eyes stared out into the forest. His tail was bushy with alarm.

"Shippo," Miroku reminded the kitsune, "I told you that you can't talk. The tengu might hear!" Carefully, he inched around the tree.

"Did you hear something? Like footsteps?"

Miroku frowned and whispered back, "I don't hear anything, but your hearing is better than mine, anyway-"

"Blood! I smell blood!" Shippo panicked. "It's coming this way!"

"Hey Shippo, you should really try to keep your voice down. I could hear you from the well."

With a small sigh of relief, Miroku stepped out from behind the tree and greeted the hanyou. "Inuyasha, it's nice to have you ba-" he stopped and stared.

Inuyasha was scratched and battered. He trudged forward at a painfully slow pace- there was a large gash across his calf which seemed to be the cause of the problem.

"Hey, why are you so beat up?" Shippo demanded shrilly. "I haven't seen you _this_ hurt since that last encounter with Sesshoumaru when he totally-"

"I take it that you ran into the tengu," Miroku broke in, before Shippo could make matters worse.

"Yup," Inuyasha replied grimly. "I need to talk to Kaede." He passed them by and marched off. "Oh, and you should go help Kagome get out of the well. She's probably screaming her head off right now."

Shippo and Miroku exchanged a nervous glance.

"Um," Shippo said, "I think I'll go back with Inuyasha! I need to… um… talk to Kirara!" He scrambled off of Miroku's shoulder and hurried after the hanyou, nose wrinkling. "Inuyasha! You stink!"

"Don't blame me," he retorted sourly. "Those stupid birds are the ones who stank. Like the things in Kagome's time," he added thoughtfully. Metallic.

(\ /)

(•. •)

( )

Kagome wasn't _completely_ immature. She knew better than to go back through the well before Inuyasha came to get her, in her condition. She couldn't do anything blind. If there was anything she really hated, it was being helpless like this. Sure, a lot of the time Inuyasha had to come rescue her from demons, but she was only human after all. She wasn't trained to fight like Miroku and Sango, either.

But blind, she couldn't even run away. All she could do was stand there or trip over her own feet.

So she waited five minutes, fuming more about her own helplessness than the fact that Inuyasha had pushed her down the well, then returned to Sengoku Jidai.

"Inuyasha?" The clearing was silent. "Inuyasha!"

If the hanyou was there, he didn't reply.

Biting her lip in concentration, Kagome relaxed and let her perceptions expand. She was surrounded by dead things. She didn't know _how_, exactly, she could tell that they were dead. It was like there was a big, yawning hole where something should've been.

"One of them better _not_ be Inuyasha," she grumbled, her senses already scrambling to find out.

"Inuyasha!" she tried again. As far as she could tell, none of them were him. But then again, how could she tell? "This is so _frustrating_!"

"Sorry! I'm here, Kagome!" It was Miroku's voice. "Inuyasha went ahead to where the villagers are. I'll get you out."

"Thanks, Miroku-sama. Could you tell me what the dead things are, though?"

The monk was clearly startled. "You can sense the dead? It's been less than two months. From what I've learned, it's taken even the most adept of this technique much longer."

Kagome shrugged indifferently. "I'd rather see, still." Her nose wrinkled at the stench of corroded metal. "So what are these things?"

"They are tengu," Miroku replied gravely. He glanced at Kagome. She looked rather pale and sickly- but from what Inuyasha had said about the nasty cold, that was no surprise. "They attacked several villages."

Kagome looked confused. "You mean crazy fanatic monks from the mountains? I was expecting some sort of horrific demon, or something. That's weird."

"Well, they certainly didn't look like old men to me," Miroku replied. "They were humongous black birds. We barely managed to evacuate the village in time," he admitted. Miroku paused for a moment and noticed one of the corpses. "Kagome… what was it that you said about tengu and monks?"

(\ /)

(0.0)

( )

Although it was nice to be so insulting to Naraku, Kikyo's real reason for refusing to help was completely unrelated. Another dark aura was barely visible in her perceptions, one different from- but perhaps as powerful as- Naraku's.

That itself concerned her little- she was already dead, after all. The only reason she persisted in staying in this world was revenge against Naraku. But the disappearance of the Shikon no Tama was another matter.

Although she would never admit it to him, Naraku wasn't exactly careless when it came to planning and security. The fact that someone –or something- could take the Shikon shard without Naraku having the slightest suspicion was intriguing. It could be no coincidence that the demonic aura appeared and the Shikon no Tama disappeared at the same time.

As the long grass rustled beneath her feet, a familiar tingling feeling caused her to sigh. "What is it now, Kagura?"

The wind witch appeared from behind a tree. And she didn't look very happy. "Naraku asked me to babysit," she said, snapping her fan shut.

"In other words, he wants to know what is so important that I am unable to help him," Kikyo stated, turning and continuing on her way. "You can tell him that if he thinks that he is worthy of possessing the Shikon no Tama, he should be able to find it on his own."

"Hmm. You're probably right." Kagura deftly removed a feather from her hair and took of in a strong gust of wind. If she had to follow Kikyo, she'd rather do it from a distance.

(•.•)

--( • )--

Kagome wasn't surprised that, on her first night back in Sengoku Jidai, she was visited in her dreams by Nozomi.

What surprised her was that she could vaguely see the scenery around her. She seemed to be sitting by a spring, a large white flower cupped in her hands. She lowered it into the water and watched it float towards the middle of the pool.

Kagome noticed that there were a lot of flowers floating in the water. _Weirdo_…. With a small sigh, she stepped forward and sat down next to the little girl. "… What're you doing?"

Nozomi didn't answer for a moment. She dropped another flower in the water, then asked, "What do you know about me, Kagome?"


End file.
